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FAITH    AND    LIFE 


SERMONS 


BV 

GEORGE  TYBOUT  PURVES,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

LATE    PASTOR    OF   THE   FIFTH    AVENUE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH,    NEW   YORK 
SOMETIME    PROFESSOR    IN   PRINCETON   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY 


WITH   AN   INTRODUCTORY   NOTE 
By  BENJAMIN  B.  WARFIELD,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

PROFESSOR    IN   PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY 


PHILADELPHIA 

PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD   OF   PUBLICATION 
AND   SABBATH-SCHOOL   WORK 

1902 


Copyright,  1902,  by 

THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION 
AND  SABBATH-SCHOOL  WORK 


TO 

ALL  WHO   LOVE   THE   GOSPEL 

AND   ESPECIALLY  TO 

THOSE  WHO   HAVE    ENJOYED   THE    PRIVILEGE  OF 
HEARING   IT   FROM   THE   LIPS   OF 

THE  GREAT  PREACHER 

SOME  OF  WHOSE  SERMONS  ARE  HERE  PRINTED 
THIS  VOLUME  IS  DEDICATED 

BY  THOSE   TO   WHOM   HAS   BEEN   ENTRUSTED   ITS   PREPARATION 
FOR   THE  PRESS 

ELIJAH  RICHARDSON  CRAVEN       JOHN  DE  WITT 

BENJAMIN  BRECKINRIDGE  WARFIELD 

WILLIAM  PARK  ARMSTRONG  Jr 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


INTRODUCTION  by  B.  B.  Warfield,  D.D.,  LL.D vii 

I.     THE  DISAPPOINTMENT  OF  THE  WORLD  WITH 

CHRIST I 

He  hath  no  form  nor  comeliness ;  and  when  we  shall 
see  Him,  there  is  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire 
Him. — Isaiah  liii.  2. 

II.  THE  ALPHA  AND  THE  OMEGA 21 

I  am  Alpha  and  Omega. — Revelation  xxii.  13. 

III.  WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST? 43 

What  think  ye  of  Christ? — Matt.  xxii.  42. 

IV.  TOUCHING   CHRIST 63 

And  besought  Him  that  they  might  only  touch  the 
hem  of  His  garment :  and  as  many  as  touched  were 
made  perfectly  whole. — Matthew  xiv.  36. 

V.     BEHOLD  YOUR  GOD 85 

O  Zion,  that  bringest  good  tidings,  get  thee  up  into 
the  high  mountain ;  O  Jerusalem,  that  bringest  good  tid- 
ings, lift  up  thy  voice  with  strength ;  lift  it  up,  be  not 
afraid ;  say  unto  the  cities  of  Judah,  Behold  your  God ! 
— Isaiah  xl.  9. 

VI.     THE  KEEPER  OF  ISRAEL 105 

Behold,  He  that  keepeth  Israel  shall  neither  slumber 
nor  sleep. — Psalm  cxxi.  4. 

VII.     THE  FATHER  OF  THE  PRODIGAL 123 

But  when  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father  saw 
him,  and  had  compassion,  and  ran,  and  fell  on  his  neck, 
and  kissed  him. — Luke  xv.  20. 

v 


VI  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

VIII.     WORKING  OUT  SALVATION 141 

Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling: 
for  it  is  God  which  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do 
of  His  good  pleasure. — Philippians  ii.  12,  13. 

IX.     UNFINISHED  BUILDINGS 159 

For  which  of  you,  intending  to  build  a  tower,  sitteth 
not  down  first,  and  counteth  the  cost,  whether  he  have 
sufficient  to  finish  it  ?  Lest  haply,  after  he  hath  laid  the 
foundation,  and  is  not  able  to  finish  it,  all  that  behold  it 
begin  to  mock  him,  saying,  This  man  began  to  build,  and 
was  not  able  to  finish.  ...  So  likewise,  whosoever  he 
be  of  you  that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath,  he  cannot 
be  My  disciple. — Luke  xiv.  2S-30,  t>Z- 

X.     STRENGTH  AND  BEAUTY 177 

Strength  and  beauty  are  in  His  sanctuary. — Psalm 
xcvi.  6. 

XI.     THE  FALSE  AND  THE  TRUE  MEASUREMENT     195 
But  they  measuring    themselves    by  themselves,    and 
comparing  themselves  among  themselves,  are  not  wise. 
— 2  Corinthians  x.  12. 

XII.     ENOCH       215 

And  Enoch  walked  with  God :  and  he  was  not ;  for 
God  took  him. — Genesis  v.  24. 

XIII.  THE  WISE  WOMAN  OF  TEKOAH 235 

For  we  must  needs  die,  and  are  as  water  spilt  on  the 
ground,  which  cannot  be  gathered  up  again ;  neither 
doth  God  respect  any  person  [or  and  God  doth  not  cast 
away  a  soul]  :  yet  [but]  doth  He  devise  means,  that  His 
banished  be  not  expelled  from  Him. — 2  Samuel  xiv.  14. 

XIV.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST 253 

I  am  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  Make 
straight  the  way  of  the  Lord,  as  said  the  prophet  Esaias. 
— John  i.  23. 

He  must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease. — John  iii.  30. 


CONTENTS  Vll 

PAGE 

XV.  SIMON  PETER'S  BROTHER 271 

Andrew,  Simon  Feter's  brother. — John  i.  40. 

XVI.     A  NOBLE  LIFE 289 

For  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my 
departure  is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have 
finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith. — 2  Timothy 
iv.  6,  7. 

XVII.  GOD'S  EDUCATION  OF  HIS  CHILDREN  ...  307 
As  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over  her 
young,  spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth 
them  on  her  wings :  so  the  Lord  alone  did  lead  him, 
and  there  was  no  strange  god  with  him. — Deuteronomy 
xxxii.  II,  12. 

XVIII.     OUT  OF  THE  DEPTHS 323 

Out  of  the  depths  have  I  cried  unto  Thee,  O  Lord. 
— Psalm  cxxx.  1. 

XIX.     MANY  MANSIONS 341 

In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions  :  if  it  were 
not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you. — John  xiv.  2. 

XX.     THE  JUDGMENT 359 

And  the  heavens  shall  declare  His  righteousness :  for 
God  is  judge  Himself. — Psalm  1.  6. 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE 

The  sermons  printed  in  this  volume  have  been  taken, 
practically  at  random,  from  the  hundreds  of  manu- 
script sermons  left  by  Dr.  Purves.  They  are  thought 
to  represent  fairly  his  ordinary  preaching;  or,  as  it 
would  be  better  to  say,  his  ordinary  preparation  for 
preaching.  For  Dr.  Purves  did  not  prepare  these 
manuscripts  to  be  read  or  verbally  recited  in  the 
pulpit.  His  actual  preaching  was  eminently  free,  rest- 
ing on  careful  preparation,  but  depending  much  also 
on  the  mental  action  of  the  moment.  Part  of  his 
preparation  consisted,  however,  in  writing  out  the 
sermon  which  he  purposed  to  deliver.  This  writing 
was  very  rapidly  done ;  though  it  resulted  in  put- 
ting a  complete  sermon  on  the  paper,  it  can  scarcely 
be  said  to  have  put  it  there  completely.  The  manu- 
scripts are  rough  in  the  extreme,  crowded  with  ab- 
breviations, and  bear  obvious  marks  of  having  been 
written  merely  to  fix  the  preacher's  thoughts.  The 
sermons  drawn  from  them  cannot  pretend  to  be  such 
sermons  as  Dr.  Purves  preached.  Much  less  can  they 
be  supposed  to  be  such  sermons  as  he  would  have 
been  content  permanently  to  fix  in  print.  They  repre- 
sent rather  Dr.  Purves'  sermons  as  they  first  presented 


X  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

themselves  to  his  mind, — the  first  impressions,  which 
he  afterwards  adjusted,  filled  out,  and  enriched  for 
their  oral  presentation.  He  would  have  felt  it  neces- 
sary very  thoroughly  to  revise,  or  rather  wholly  to 
rewrite  them,  before  they  were  committed  to  type. 

A  certain  injustice  is  therefore  inevitably  done  Dr. 
Purves'  memory  as  a  preacher  by  printing  these  ex- 
temporaneous first-drafts  of  his  sermons.  Neither  in 
literary  form,  nor  in  homiletical  structure,  nor  even, 
perhaps,  in  religious  teaching  (if  at  least  our  mind  is 
set  on  proportion  and  precision  of  statement),  can  they 
be  held  to  represent  fairly  his  remarkably  clear,  strong, 
and  rich  preaching.  Those  who  have  been  charged 
with  the  duty  of  deciding  whether  to  print  or  not  to 
print,  have,  in  these  circumstances,  naturally  felt  much 
hesitation.  But  Dr.  Purves  is  gone  from  us  ;  the  ser- 
mons as  he  preached  them,  or  as  he  would  have 
printed  them,  are  beyond  our  reach.  It  seems  a  pity, 
however,  that  his  voice  should  be  wholly  stilled.  Even 
in  the  extemporaneous  form  in  which  they  appear  in 
the  manuscripts,  these  sermons  seem  to  us  remarkable 
sermons,  and  if  not  fully  representative  of  Dr.  Purves' 
powers,  nervertheless  not  unworthy  of  his  talents,  and 
quite  capable,  as  vital  presentations  of  the  essentials 
of  Christian  truth,  not  only  of  embalming  his  memory 
worthily,  but  of  serving  further  that  Gospel  to  which 
he  enthusiastically  gave  his  life,  and  for  the  advance- 
ment of  which  he  would  have  been  more  than  willing 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xi 

to  sacrifice  much.  We  give  this  small  selection  of 
them  to  the  world  with  the  conviction  that  there  is  a 
blessing  in  them,  which  we  should  be  sorry  to  with- 
hold from  the  wider  circles  which  have  not  enjoyed 
the  privilege  of  hearing  the  living  preacher's  voice. 

It  seems  fitting  to  prefix  some  account  of  the  life 
and    work    out    of  which    these   sermons    came. 

George  Tybout  Purves  was  born  in  Philadelphia  on 
the  27th  of  September,  1852.  As  every  Scotchman 
would  know  from  the  name  itself,  the  family  was  of 
Berwickshire  origin ;  and  Berwick  men  bearing  it  have 
won  a  place  for  it  both  in  the  secular  and  in  the  re- 
ligious history  of  Scotland.  It  was  thence  that  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  John  Purves 
came,  who,  emigrating  to  America,  and  establishing 
himself  as  a  merchant,  first  at  Bridgeton,  N.  J.,  and 
then  at  Philadelphia,  became  the  ancestor  of  Dr. 
Purves.  He  was  a  man  of  convictions,  having  also 
the  courage  of  his  convictions,  for  which — being 
unfortunately  a  "  Tory " — he  was  called  upon  to 
suffer.  In  West  Jersey  he  found  a  wife  for  himself 
in  a  Huguenot  maiden,  bearing  the  great  name  of 
Anne  Marot.  Their  son,  Alexander,  married,  in 
Margaret  Colesberry,  a  descendant  of  Swen  Coles- 
berg,  schoolmaster  in  the  Swedish  colony  at  Wil- 
mington. Thus,  Dr.  Purves'  father,  William  Purves, 
the  issue  of  this  marriage,  was  typically  American  in 
the  complicated  mixture  of  good  strains  of  blood  in  his 


xii  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

veins.  His  mother,  Anna  Kennedy,  was  of  pure 
North  Irish  descent,  from  County  Antrim.  But  her 
Presbytcrianism  was  no  more  deeply  inbred  than  that 
of  her  husband.  John  Purves  had  identified  himself 
from  the  first  with  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Philadelphia,  of  which  he  was  a  trustee.  His  son, 
Alexander,  succeeded  him  in  that  office,  and  also  sub- 
sequently served  the  church  in  the  higher  duties  of 
the  eldership ;  and  his  son,  William,  after  him  adorned 
the  latter  responsible  office  through  many  years. 
Sprung  from  this  Godly  stock,  Dr.  Purves  was  born 
into  an  ideal  Christian  household,  which  "  abounded," 
as  one  who,  as  its  pastor,  knew  it  well,  describes  it, 
"  with  the  sweetest  Christian  amenities  and  sanctities." 
It  was  one  of  the  felicities  of  his  life  that  he  was  not 
compelled  to  leave  the  goodly  and  Godly  fellowship 
of  this  home  to  obtain  his  education.  His  primary 
schooling  was  received  in  the  "  classical  institute  "  of 
a  notable  schoolmaster,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Wylie 
Faires,  "the  last  in  the  long  succession  of  Scotch-Irish 
schoolmasters  to  whom  Philadelphia  and  the  common- 
wealth owe  so  much."  He  is  described  by  one  of 
his  teachers  of  this  period  as  small  and  quiet,  little  ag- 
gressive in  his  work,  and  perhaps  not  revealing  his  full 
ability  as  it  was  afterward  called  forth  by  circum- 
stances, fond  withal  of  outdoor  sports,  especially  of 
cricket,  in  which  he  was  proficient.  "  I  remember 
well,"  this  teacher  adds,  "  his  striking  face,  his  modest 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xm 

demeanor,  his  correct  recitations,  his  eagerness  to 
learn."  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  whence  he  was  graduated  in  1872. 
His  career  in  the  university  was  a  distinguished  one. 
He  seems  to  have  won  nearly  all  the  prizes  in  oratoiy 
offered ;  he  was  also  a  prize-man  in  philosophy,  and,  in 
his  freshman  year,  in  Greek,  though  after  that  the  classi- 
cal prizes  went  to  others.  When  his  university  course 
was  over,  he  devoted  an  additional  year  to  the  diligent 
study  of  languages  and  general  literature.  Dr.  Herrick 
Johnson,  his  pastor  at  this  time,  describes  him  as  al- 
ready "  giving  sign  and  token  of  all  the  characteristics 
that  marked  his  subsequent  career :  ready,  nimble,  ver- 
satile, scholarly,  genial,  and  gentle, — a  winsome  fellow." 
He  had  made  a  public  profession  of  his  faith  just 
after  completing  his  fourteenth  year  (October  5,  1866); 
and  soon  after  graduating  from  the  university,  he 
reached  the  conviction  (autumn  of  1872)  that  he 
should  give  himself  to  the  work  of  the  ministry.  In 
the  autumn  of  1873,  therefore,  he  entered  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Princeton,  and  thus  came  into 
relations  with  an  institution  with  which,  as  student, 
director,  professor,  and  then  director  again,  he  retained 
a  close  connection  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  no  more  faithful  pupil  ever  sat  upon  the  hard 
benches  of  the  "  Old  Seminary  "  class-rooms.  He  neg- 
lected nothing.  He  accomplished  with  distinction 
every  task  that  was  set  him.     His  easy  mastery  of  the 


xiv  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

subjects  embraced  in  the  curriculum  was,  however, 
only  one  of  the  ways  in  which  he  exhibited  a  vigor 
and  a  richness  of  mental  life  that  won  from  the  first 
the  respect  of  his  preceptors  and  the  admiration 
of  his  comrades.  He  was  by  common  consent  pro- 
nounced the  best  preacher  in  his  class  ;  and  none  will 
contest  his  claim  to  have  been  the  best  of  good  com- 
panions. The  somewhat  meagre  opportunities  for 
extra-curriculum  work  then  afforded  by  the  seminary, 
he  took,  of  course,  full  advantage  of.  These  included 
rather  extended  studies  in  Shemitic  Philology,  under 
the  instruction  of  Dr.  J.  F.  McCurdy,  then  John  C. 
Green  Instructor  in  Hebrew.  But  they  particularly 
embraced  continuous  and  loving  study  of  the  New 
Testament,  under  the  instruction  of  Dr.  C.  W.  Hodge. 
He  was  graduated  from  the  seminary  in  1876,  but  re- 
mained in  connection  with  it  an  additional  year,  en- 
gaged in  advanced  work  in  Biblical  Literature  and 
Biblical  Theology  under  the  direction  of  Drs.  Caspar 
Wistar  Hodge  and  William  Henry  Green. 

He  profited,  of  course,  from  all  the  instruction  he 
received  in  the  seminary,  as  only  a  mind  like  his,  at 
once  docile  and  independent,  receptive  and  fertile,  could 
profit.  But  the  formative  influence  that  was  exerted  on 
him  came  from  Dr.  Caspar  Wistar  Hodge.  What  he 
felt  he  owed  to  the  inspiring  personality  and  the 
impressive  teaching  of  this  wide-minded  scholar,  and 
the  affectionate  gratitude  with  which   he  bore  him  in 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  XV 

life-long  memory,  he  himself  has  told  us,  only  last 
spring,  in  the  eulogy  he  pronounced,  at  the  unveiling 
of  a  tablet  erected  to  the  memory  of  his  revered  in- 
structor, in  the  chapel  of  Princeton  Seminary.  Proba- 
bly no  other  of  his  teachers  exercised  so  moulding  an 
influence  upon  him  ;  although  he  always  acknowledged 
a  debt  also  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Porterfield  Krauth, 
who  had  imbued  his  youthful  mind  with  his  philoso- 
phy at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  gradually 
drifted  away  from  Dr.  Krauth's  characteristic  tenets, 
however,  whereas  Dr.  Hodge's  method  and  spirit 
became  ever  more    and    more    his    own. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Purves  had  been  licensed  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  to  preach  the  Gospel 
(May  2,  1876),  and  immediately  on  completing  his  grad- 
uate studies  in  the  seminary,  he  was  ordained  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Chester  (April  27,  1877),  and  installed 
pastor  of  the  little  church  at  Wayne.  Even  in  that 
somewhat  retired  parish  he  quickly  drew  attention, 
and  accordingly,  when  the  Broadway  Avenue  Church 
in  Baltimore  was  established  (1880),  it  was  he  who 
was  called  to  put  the  new  enterprise  on  its  feet.  This 
he  thoroughly  did,  growing  meanwhile  himself  steadily 
in  pulpit  power.  After  six  years  of  labor  in  that 
fruitful  field  he  was  fixed  upon  by  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Pittsburgh — whose  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Sylvester  F.  Scovel,  had  been  taken  from  it,  in  1883, 
to  become  President   of  Wooster   University — as  the 


XVI  INTR  OD  UCTOR  Y  NO  TE 

man  it  needed  to  carry  forward  its  high  traditions  and 
compact  its  energies.  In  this  pastorate,  as  one  of  the 
closest  and  most  sympathetic  observers  of  his  work 
has  put  it,  he  achieved  "  one  of  the  triumphs  of 
the  modern  ministry."  He  "  showed  that  even  in  a 
'  down-town '  church  scholarship  can  do  more  than 
sensationalism,  and  that  unfeigned  devotion  to  the 
simple  Gospel  is  the  only  true  basis  for  genuine  pulpit 
power.  He  gathered  into  his  audience  all  classes 
and  conditions,  gentle  and  simple,  wise  and  unwise, 
who  sat  at  his  feet  and  heard  his  words  with  delight, 
and  were  moved  to  holy  living  by  the  vital  power 
of  the  Word  as  he  preached  it." 

"  Meanwhile,"  continues  the  same  writer,  "  he  was 
busy  in  his  study,  ever  the  secret  spring  that  fed  his 
pulpit."  During  all  these  years  of  successful  pulpit 
work  he  had,  in  fact,  never  intermitted  his  enthusiastic 
study  of  the  New  Testament  and  related  branches  of 
theological  investigation.  A  specimen  of  his  schol- 
arly attainments  was  now  given  to  the  world  in  his 
course  of  "  Stone  Lectures,"  delivered  at  Princeton 
Seminary  in  the  autumn  of  1888,  and  shortly  after- 
ward published  in  a  goodly  volume.  Other  publi- 
cations followed  in  the  Reviews,  and  it  soon  became 
quite  clear  that  a  light  of  learning  had  been  lifted  up 
whose  shining  could  not  be  hid.  The  seminaries 
began  to  turn  longing  eyes  toward  him.  He  was 
sought  by  more  than  one  of  them  for  more  than  one 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  XV11 

chair  of  instruction.  Princeton  Seminary  endeavored 
in  vain  to  secure  him  for  its  chair  of  Church  History. 
During  a  vacancy  in  the  chair  of  Dogmatic  Theology 
at  the  Western  Seminary  at  Allegheny,  he  actually 
taught  that  branch  of  theology  throughout  a  whole 
session  to  delighted  classes ;  and  both  that  seminary 
and  McCormick  Seminary  would  fain  have  secured 
him  for  that  chair.  But  his  heart  was  fixed  in  its 
devotion  to  the  critical  study  of  the  New  Testament. 
And  at  length,  in  1892,  on  the  death  of  his  beloved 
instructor  in  this  department,  he  was  prevailed  upon 
to  take  up  the  work  that  had  fallen  from  Dr.  Hodge's 
hands.  Thus  he  became  Professor  of  New  Testament 
Literature  and  Exegesis  in  Princeton  Seminary. 

To  the  work  of  this  chair  he  brought  not  only 
eminent  general  abilities  and  a  remarkable  aftd-  special 
aptitude,  but  a  trained  exegetical  tact  and  a  large 
store  of  accumulated  knowledge.  He  brought  also  an 
unbounded  energy  and  zeal,  and  a  depth  of  religious 
sentiment  which  rendered  every  word  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament precious  to  him,  and  made  its  exposition  and 
enforcement  his  greatest  delight.  It  is  using  wholly 
inadequate  language  to  speak  of  his  eight  years  of 
instruction  in  this  chair  as  successful.  His  instruction 
was  enthusiastically  given  and  enthusiastically  re- 
ceived. He  impressed  his  pupils  profoundly.  For 
many  years  to  come  the  Church  will  be  richer  in  men 
who  know  and  love  the  New  Testament  for  these  years 


XVI ll  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

of  his  work  in  the  seminary.  In  these  pupils  he  will 
live  anew  as  they  expound  the  Scriptures  in  the  spirit 
which  they  have  learned  from  him. 

His  class-room  work,  however,  did  not  suffice  him. 
His  burning  zeal  in  the  communication  of  his  treasures 
of  divine  knowledge  led  him  ever  to  seek  and  to  find 
other  channels  of  expression.  He  wrote  much  for  the 
religious  press ;  he  even  became  for  a  time  a  regular 
contributor  to  one  of  our  church  papers.  He  was  in 
great  demand  as  a  public  lecturer,  and  made  frequent 
and  long  journeys  to  deliver  either  a  single  address  or 
a  course  of  lectures.  Even  this  was  not  enough.  He 
was  soon  found  preaching  regularly  every  Sabbath 
evening  in  one  of  the  Princeton  churches,  with  an 
especial  view  to  the  needs  of  the  unevangelized  classes, 
and  particularly  of  the  young  men  gathered  so  numer- 
ously in  this  university  town.  Just  as  while  he  was 
in  the  pastorate  he  was  besieged  by  the  seminaries, 
seeking  to  obtain  his  gifts  and  learning  for  their  chairs 
of  instruction ;  so,  now,  when  he  was  at  last  in  the 
seminary,  he  was  besieged  by  the  churches,  seeking  to 
obtain  his  demonstrated  ability  and  tried  skill  for  their 
pulpits.  Numerous  calls  came  to  him  from  the  out- 
standing churches  of  the  land;  back  to  Pittsburgh,  to 
Baltimore,  to  Philadelphia,  to  New  York.  Eveiy  one 
of  them  tempted  him.  He  loved  to  preach  and  was 
conscious  of  the  power  that  went  out  from  him.  But 
he    contented    himself    for   the    time    with    becoming 


INTRODl  VTOR  ) '  NO TE  XIX 

stated-supply  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Princeton  (1897),  though  this  soon  ripened  into  his 
settlement  as  regular  pastor  of  that  church  (1899). 

He  put  his  shoulders  under  his  double  burden  with 
an  enthusiasm  that  knew  no  measure.  An  assistant 
was  given  him  in  the  church  ;  an  assistant  was  given 
him  in  the  seminary.  But  he  appeared  to  be  con- 
cerned not  so  much  to  shift  some  of  his  work  to  them, 
as  to  invent  enough  additional  work  in  the  congrega- 
tion and  seminary  to  keep  them  also  busy.  He  him- 
self responded  to  the  demands  made  on  him,  and 
expanded  to  ever  greater  power.  It  was  during  his 
Princeton  pastorate,  for  example,  that  he  developed 
his  full  gifts  as  a  pastor.  Perhaps  at  the  outset  of 
his  career  it  was  the  intellectual  side  of  his  work 
that  was  most  prominent;  it  was  especially  in  the 
pulpit  that  he  made  full  proof  of  his  ministry.  As  his 
ministry  ripened  to  its  close,  however,  he  had  become 
a  model  pastor,  absolutely  tireless,  and  remarkably 
effective  in  his  infinitely  sympathetic  personal  inter- 
course with  his  people.  These  superabounding  labors 
proved,  of  course,  too  much  for  his  strength,  sapped, 
as  it  now  proved  to  be,  by  the  inroads  of  a  fatal  dis- 
ease. So,  in  the  spring  of  1900,  he  laid  down  his 
work  in  Princeton,  and  became  pastor  of  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York,  the  fourth 
in  that  series  of  remarkable  pastors  by  which  the  his- 
tory of  that  church  during  the  last  half  century  has 


xx  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

been  distinguished — James  W.  Alexander,  Nathan  L. 
Rice,  John  Hall,  and  George  T.  Purves.  This  was, 
in  a  sense,  the  fitting  culmination  of  his  life.  But  less 
than  eighteen  months  were  granted  him  for  the  culti- 
vation of  this  new  field  before  he  "  fell  on  sleep," 
having  literally  worn  himself  out  in  a  service  of  love. 

It  is  doubtless  idle  to  ask  whether  Dr.  Purves  was 
more  the  preacher  or  more  the  scholar.  The  greater 
portion  of  his  active  life  was  passed  in  the  pulpit,  and 
it  will  not  be  strange  if  he  is  longer  remembered  as 
one  of  the  most  impressive  preachers  of  his  day.  In 
truth,  however,  the  two  things  cannot  be  separated 
in  his  case.  He  was  never  more  the  profoundly  in- 
structed scholar  than  when  he  stood  in  the  pulpit :  he 
was  never  more  the  preacher  of  righteousness  than 
when  he  sat  in  the  class-room.  He  certainly  was  not 
a  scholastic  preacher ;  and  he  certainly  was  not  what 
is  called  a  "  homiletical  "  teacher.  He  was  too  ripe  a 
scholar  to  take  the  atmosphere  of  the  study  into  the 
pulpit  with  him ;  he  was  too  skilled  in  the  art  of 
religious  impression  to  carry  the  pulpit  tone  into  the 
class-room.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  whole  man, 
with  all  his  gifts  and  graces,  was  present  wherever  he 
went ;  and  as  he  was  one  of  the  most  reverential  of 
teachers,  so  was  he  habitually  one  of  the  most  theo- 
logical of  preachers. 

It  was  not  merely  that  he  had  thought  himself 
through   theologically,   and    held    firmly   to  a  devel- 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  XXI 

opecl  theological  system  which  underlay  and  sustained 
and  gave  body  to  all  his  preaching.  This  was  emi- 
nently true  of  him ;  and  it  went  far  to  account  for 
the  consistency,  strength,  and  edifying  effect  of  his 
pulpit  ministrations.  But  he  did  not  merely  preach 
out  of  his  theology;  he  preached  his  theology.  He 
constantly  took  a  theological  topic  for  his  subject, 
and  developed  it  with  notable  precision  and  fullness. 
As  he  preached  his  theology,  so  also  he  preached  his 
"  criticism."  The  boldness  with  which  he  introduced 
into  his  sermons  the  results,  and,  on  the  positive  side, 
even  the  processes  of  his  critical  studies,  was  equalled 
only  by  the  skill  with  which  he  bent  it  all  to  serve  a 
religious  end.  The  staple  of  his  preaching  may  be, 
perhaps,  best  described  as  Biblico-theological.  His  col- 
league, Dr.  John  DeWitt,  has  admirably  expressed  it 
by  calling  his  sermons  "  didactic  orations  of  which  the 
substance  was  yielded  by  studies  in  Biblical  theology." 
But  so  skillful  was  he  in  truly  popular  exposition,  so 
free  was  he  from  all  parade  of  learning,  so  vitalized 
was  all  he  said  with  experimental  religion,  so  earnestly 
and  simply  were  the  truths  he  presented  pressed  home 
to  the  heart  and  conscience,  that  only  the  most  reflect- 
ing of  his  hearers  quite  realized  that  they  were  being 
as  carefully  "  indoctrinated  "  as  they  were  being  power- 
fully aroused  to  religious  emotion  and  action. 

The   most  striking   quality  of  his   delivery  was  its 
vigor, — its    nervous    expenditure.       He   preached   all 


xxil  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

over.  lie  threw  a  tremendous  energy  of  bodily  action 
into  what  he  said,  gesturing  not  with  forethought  and 
calculated  effect,  but  as  if  the  force  of  his  conviction 
and  his  earnestness  of  purpose  must  find  exit  in  some- 
thing more  than  words.  His  spoken  style  was  correct, 
clear,  and  forcible.  He  was  no  phrase-maker;  he  did 
not  deal  in  antitheses,  assonances,  colloquialisms ;  he 
used  illustrations  sparingly.  He  had  no  broken-sen- 
tences ;  his  periods  were  rounded,  balanced,  and  pellu- 
cidly  clear;  he  never  framed  an  unintelligible,  weak,  or 
unvitalized  sentence.  He  knew  what  he  wished  to 
say,  and  he  knew  how  to  say  it  so  that  it  went  straight 
from  his  lips  to  the  intellects,  hearts,  and  consciences 
of  his  hearers.  His  sermons  were  always  systemat- 
ically and  compactly  organized  and  made  a  unitary 
impression.  His  aim  in  preaching  was  obviously  not 
to  delight  but  to  instruct,  not  to  give  pleasure  but 
guidance ;  and  he  had  his  reward.  He  was  not  a  revi- 
valist— he  was  rather  a  master-builder.  His  churches 
grew  steadily  and  solidly  under  his  hands,  and  became 
compacted  into  thoroughly  vitalized  organisms.  To 
this  result  no  doubt  the  faithfulness  of  his  pastoral 
care  contributed  ;  but  much  must  be  attributed  also  to 
the  faithfulness  and  power  of  his  preaching. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  George  E.  Horr,  of  Boston,  happened 
to  hear  Dr.  Purves  at  a  communion  service  in  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Church,  New  York,  just  as  he  was  about  to 
assume  that  pastorate ;  and  the  visitor  wrote  out  the 


INTRl  WUCTOR  Y  NOTE  xxiii 

impression  he  carried  away  with  him  and  printed  it  in 
his  paper,  The  Watchman  (March  i,  1900).  It  will 
perhaps  give  us  a  more  vivid  picture  of  Dr.  Purves  in 
the  pulpit  than  we  can  easily  obtain  elsewhere.  "  Dr. 
Purves,"  he  writes,  "  is  a  stocky  man,  a  little  below  the 
medium  height,  with  a  clear,  persuasive,  penetrating 
voice.  The  peculiar  quality  of  his  preaching  is  its  com- 
bination of  modernness  and  conservative  orthodoxy. 
His  topic  was  '  The  Precious  Blood  of  Christ.'  His  lan- 
guage was  clear,  direct,  and  sinewy ;  his  analysis  of  his 
proposition  singularly  convincing  and  effective,  and  the 
discourse  moved  strongly,  like  an  army,  from  point  to 
point,  leaving  the  impression  that  the  blood  of  the 
Redeemer  was  infinitely  worthful.  But  the  assump- 
tions of  the  discourse  were  as  weighty  as  its  argument. 
Dr.  Purves  did  not  apologize  for  the  Bible  nor  seek  to 
show  that  its  statements  are  true.  He  assumed  their 
truth,  and  some  of  the  most  conclusive  and  effective 
passages  in  the  sermon  were  those  in  which  he  ap- 
pealed to  the  Word  of  God  in  confirmation  of  his 
statements.  He  quotes  the  Scriptures  with  accuracy 
and  pertinence,  though  he  seems  to  discard  entirely 
the  help  of  notes." 

Cut  off  as  he  was  in  the  midst  of  his  days,  Dr. 
Purves  has  left  behind  him  no  such  literary  product 
as  will  convey  to  posterity  an  adequate  measure  of  his 
powers.  He  served  his  own  generation.  Outside  of 
the    pulpit    and    the  class-room,    it  was  in  numerous 


xxiv  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

addresses  and  equally  numerous  "flying  leaves"  of 
newspaper  articles  that  he  expended  his  strength.  It 
is  easy  to  value  these  too  lightly.  We  are,  perhaps, 
prone  to  overestimate  the  relative  importance  of 
books  :  Litera  scripta  manei.  But  the  "  winged  word  " 
of  speech  moves  the  world ;  and  it  is  better,  after  all, 
to  form  characters  than  to  compile  volumes.  Dr. 
Purvcs  seems  to  have  thought  so  ;  and  he  gave  himself 
freely,  or  rather  prodigally,  to  the  oral  communication 
of  his  thought.  The  subjects  on  which  he  spoke,  the 
audiences  which  he  addressed,  were  of  the  most  varied 
kinds.  Few  of  these  addresses  have  found  their  way 
into  print.  But  each  has  had  its  own  effect  on  human 
lives. 

He  published  but  two  books.  One  of  these  has 
already  been  mentioned — his  admirable  "  Stone  Lec- 
tures," on  The  Testimony  of  Justin  Martyr  to  Early 
Christianity,  published  in  1889.  By  its  side  he  placed, 
in  the  closing  days  of  his  professorship  at  Princeton, 
his  equally  admirable  hand-book  on  The  Apostolic  Age 
(1900).  Both  books  are  thoroughly  characteristic  of 
Dr.  Purves :  careful,  painstaking,  absolutely  honest 
pieces  of  work,  presented  in  an  unambitious,  work- 
manlike style.  In  reviewing  the  former  book,  Liide- 
mann,  though  rejecting  Dr.  Purves'  whole  point  of 
view,  yet  is  constrained  to  confess  that  his  work 
exhibits  "  thorough  knowledge,"  and  proceeds  by 
means  of  "  an  exact  presentation  of  the  data — suppress- 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  XXV 

ing  nothing,  concealing  nothing."  This  is  worth 
adverting  to,  as  it  reveals  a  fundamental  trait  of  Dr. 
Purves'  mind.  His  was  above  everything  else  a  fair 
mind,  an  honest  mind.  He  might  sometimes  appear 
too  cautious  in  reaching  and  announcing  conclusions  ; 
never   too    little  so. 

In  a  notable  address,  which  he  delivered  at  the 
Commencement  Exercises  of  Emporia  College  in 
1894,  on  The  Value  of  the  Highest  Culture,  he  let 
drop  a  phrase  which  fairly  enunciates  the  note  of 
all  his  work.  "Such  culture,"  he  says,  "induces 
caution  and  modesty  in  reaching  conclusions."  There 
speaks  Dr.  Purves'  scientific  conscience,  and  there  we 
have  in  a  few  words  the  primary  trait  of  his  scientific 
life.  He  sedulously  sought  to  have  all  the  facts  be- 
fore him  before  forming  an  opinion.  Perhaps  he  some- 
times found  it  difficult  to  recognize  the  truth  until  he 
could  see  it  whole.  But  he  spared  no  pains  in  seeking 
to  see  it  whole.  And  when  he  did  come  to  see  it,  he 
clung  to  it  with  the  strength  of  conviction  naturally 
induced  by  the  consciousness  that  he  had  attained 
it   by  solid    processes    of  investigation    and    thought. 

It  is  worth  while  to  observe  that  both  of  Dr.  Purves' 
published  works  are  historical  studies,  and  historical 
studies  based  on  minute  investigation  and  presented 
with  masterly  command  of  the  material.  The  same 
historical  interest  is  apparent  also  in  his  minor  pub- 
lications.    Nevertheless,  this  was  not  his  primary  in- 


xxvi  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

terest  His  engagement  with  the  historical  aspects  of 
New  Testament  problems  was  the  effect  partly  of  his 
unquenchable  zeal  for  the  exploration  of  every  side 
of  New  Testament  study,  but  chiefly  of  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  situation.  His  historical  investigations 
were  largely  incidental  to  apologetical  ends.  The 
apologetical  motive  is  indeed  explicitly  put  forward  in 
nearly  all  of  his  historical  studies.  Nevertheless,  not 
even  in  it  can  we  find  the  real  spring  of  his  zeal.  If 
he  was  interested  in  history  for  its  apologetical  value, 
he  was  interested  in  apologetics  not  for  its  own  sake, 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  precious  truth  which  it  guarded. 
His  primary  interest  in  the  New  Testament  was,  in  a 
word,  doctrinal ;  and  he  was  most  in  his  element  when 
he  was  investigating  its  treasures  of  truth. 

He  has  unfortunately  left  us  very  few  Biblico-theo- 
logical  discissions  ;  but  what  he  has  left  us  are  very 
sane  and  very  valuable.  Those  who  knew  him  well 
found  an  intense  interest  in  watching  the  slow  but 
steady  and  solid  growth  in  his  mind  of  a  complete 
doctrinal  system,  consciously  drawn  by  him  from  the 
New  Testament,  and  built  up  step  by  step  only  as  in 
the  course  of  time  he  was  enabled  to  investigate  thor- 
oughly its  entire  reach  of  teaching.  To  those  who 
knew  him  well,  the  fact  that  the  system  to  which  he 
thus  attained  was  that  which  is  commonly  known 
under  the  name  of  Federalistic  Calvinism,  although  he 
had    originally  no  predilection  for  this   mode  of  con- 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xxvn 

ceiving  evangelical  truth,  but  was,  on  the  contrary, 
somewhat  prejudiced  against  it,  afforded  notable  re- 
newed evidence  of  the  real  rooting  of  this  system  in 
the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  whole  mass  of  Dr.  Purves'  published  scientific 
work  is  not  large.  By  the  side  of  his  two  books  there 
are  only  five  or  six  extended  Review  articles  to  be 
placed.  These,  in  the  order  of  time  of  publication, 
bear  the  following  titles:  "The  Influence  of  Paganism 
on  Post- Apostolic  Christianity"  {Presbyterian  Review, 
1888);  "Simon  Peter  in  the  School  of  Christ"  {Presby- 
terian and  Reformed  Review,  1891);  "St.  Paul  and 
Inspiration"  {Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Review,  1893); 
"The  Incarnation  Biblically  Considered"  (in  Christ 
and  the  Chureh,Reve\\,  1894);  "The  Formation  of  the 
New  Testament"  {Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Review, 
1895);  "The  Witness  of  Apostolic  Literature  to  Apos- 
tolic History"  {Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Review, 
1898);  "The  Unity  of  Second  Corinthians"  {The 
Union  Seminary  Magazine,  1900).  Quite  a  series  of 
articles  were  contributed  by  him  also  to  two  recent 
Dictionaries  of  the  Bible, — that  edited  by  Dr.  James 
Hastings  and  published  by  T.  &  T.  Clark,  and  that 
edited  by  Dr.  John  D.  Davis  and  published  by  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication.  At  the  time  of 
his  death  he  was  under  appointment  for  two  courses 
of  lectures,  one  to  be  delivered  at  Harvard  University 
and  one  at  Princeton  Seminary;  and  he  had  it  in  mind 


xxviii  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

to  work  up  some  of  his  accumulations  of  scientific 
material  into  these.  He  had  also  long  cherished  a 
design  to  prepare  and  publish  a  treatise  on  the  Apostle 
Peter,  of  a  type  somewhat  like  Conybeare  and  How- 
son's  well-known  work  on  Paul.  We  are  the  poorer 
that  these  projected  works  were  never  published. 

No  account  of  Dr.  Purves'  life  would  be  complete 
which  neglected  to  note  his  faithfulness  in  the  dis- 
charge of  the  duties  that  came  to  him  as  a  presbyter 
in  an  organized  Church.  He  was  as  good  a  presbyter 
as  he  was  a  pastor,  diligent  in  all  the  work  of  the 
presbytery.  He  was  four  times  delegated  to  represent 
his  presbytery  in  the  General  Assembly  (1884,  1889, 
1896,  1 901).  Those  were  stirring  years  in  ecclesiastical 
annals,  in  which  it  was  no  sinecure  to  serve  the  Church 
as  a  bishop  in  council.  It  must  suffice  here  to  say 
that  Dr.  Purves  bore  his  full  part  in  the  labors  and 
the  debates  of  the  body,  and  no  voice  was  more 
potent  in  its  councils.  Special  prominence  was  given 
him  at  the  Assemby  of  190 1  by  his  nomination  for  the 
moderatorship ;  and  the  affection  and  esteem  in  which 
he  was  held  by  the  house  was  exhibited  not  only  by 
the  large  vote  cast  for  him  in  this  contest,  but  also 
by  the  reception  given  him  whenever  he  rose  in  his 
place  to  address  the  house. 

He  was  one  of  the  representatives  of  his  Church 
at  the  Seventh  Council  of  the  "  Alliance  of  the 
Reformed    Churches    holding    the    Presbyterian    Sys- 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  XXIX 

tern,"  sitting  at  Washington  in  1899.  From  1888 
to  1S92  he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Missions 
for  Freedmen,  and  from  1900  to  his  death,  of 
the  Board  of  Home  Missions.  He  was  appointed 
by  the  Assembly  of  1 90 1  a  member  of  a  special 
ad  interim  committee  charged  with  the  duty  of  stimu- 
lating the  churches  in  evangelistic  work,  with  the 
considering  of  such  work  and  its  conduct  in  relation 
to  the  churches :  and  into  the  labors  of  this  com- 
mittee he  was  throwing  himself  with  great  spirit  when 
death  overtook  him.  It  would  not  be  possible  to 
record  here,  however,  all  the  appointments  with  which 
he  was  entrusted.  Let  it  be  enough  to  say  that  it  was 
the  delight  of  the  Church  to  honor  him  with  positions 
of  trust  and  his  delight  to  respond  by  a  most  dis- 
tinguished service  to  the  calls  so  made  upon  him. 

Dr.  Purves'  private  life  was  one  of  exceptional 
beauty.  There  was  something  in  his  address  that  was 
peculiarly  charming :  a  manifest  sincerity,  willing  self- 
effacement,  and  unmistakable  sympathy.  This  gave  a 
certain  personal  quality  to  all  his  intercourse  which 
begot  in  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  a  re- 
sponse in  kind.  He  made  many  and  close  friends. 
The  simple  annals  of  a  diligent  scholar  and  tireless 
pastor  were  his,  during  all  the  faithfully  improved 
years  in  which  he  grew  steadily,  like  a  cedar,  straight 
upward,  in  perfect  quiet,  and  with  no  consciousness  of 
the  wide  shadow  he  was   castine  about  him.     He  was 


XXX  INTR OD  UCTOR  Y  NO  TE 

just  completing  his  forty-ninth  year  when  he  died,  in 
New  York,  on  the  24th  of  September,  1901,  deprived, 
as  we  cannot  but  sadly  say  to  ourselves,  of  the  residue 
of  his  days.  They  were  forty-nine  strenuous  years 
he  had  lived.  It  would  be  cruel  for  us  to  begrudge 
him  at  last  his  well-earned  rest. 

Benjamin  B.  Warfield. 
Princeton,  May  1,  1902. 


FAITH  AND  LIFE 


THE  DISAPPOINTMENT  OF  THE  WORLD  "WITH  CHRIST 

"  He  hath  no  form  nor  comeliness ;  and  when  we  shall  see  Him,  there 
is  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  Him." — Isaiah  liii.  2. 

Thus  Isaiah  described  beforehand  the  disappoint- 
ment which  the  world  would  feel  with  the  Messiah. 
There  should  be  no  doubt  that  the  prophet  did  refer 
to  the  Messiah.  It  is  quite  probable,  indeed,  that  his 
description  was  suggested  by  the  shame  and  humilia- 
tion of  Israel's  captivity,  which  also  he  foresaw;  and 
elsewhere  the  "Servant  of  Jehovah"  often  denotes 
the  people  of  Israel  themselves.  But  in  this  chapter 
the  figure  of  Israel  resolves  itself  into  its  ideal,  and 
that  was  realized  only  in  its  Messianic  Head.  Of  Him 
is  affirmed  a  work  of  expiation  which  on  Biblical  prin- 
ciples cannot  be  attributed  to  any  race  or  any  other 
individual.  While,  therefore,  the  woes  of  the  Babylo- 
nian captivity,  with  its  utter  defacement  of  the  beauty 
and  glory  of  Israel,  may  have  given  occasion  to  the 
vision  which  Isaiah  received  of  the  unutterable  lowli- 
ness of  the  Christ,  there  should  be  no  question  that  to 
the  Christ  his  sight  was  directed  in  this  passage,  and  to 


2  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

Him  his  words  referred.  In  strange  contrast  with  the 
prophecies  of  glory,  and  with  the  inspired  dreams  of 
royal  majesty  and  conquering  power,  there  now  ap- 
peared the  spectacle  of  One  despised  and  rejected  of 
men ;  of  One  who  would  not  appeal  to  the  admiration 
of  mankind ;  of  One  whom  the  world  would  not  rank 
among  her  great  and  noble;  of  One  who  would  bear 
the  derision  of  mankind  and  the  very  curse  of  God. 

And  as  this  was  plainly  the  prophet's  thought,  so  is 
it  well  known  that  his  words  served,  when  the  Christ 
did  appear,  to  explain  to  His  disciples  the  mystery  of 
their  Master's  lowliness  and  shame.  When  the  time 
came  for  a  Nazarene  carpenter  and  crucified  Galilean 
to  be  proclaimed  to  Israel  and  the  world  as  God's 
Messiah,  the  Spirit  who  had  inspired  Isaiah  used  his 
language  both  to  establish  the  faith  of  the  disciples 
and  to  lead  them  into  the  fullness  of  the  truth.  Isaiah 
furnished  one  of  the  principal  keys  by  which  apostolic 
thought  opened  the  door  of  truth  and  obtained  its 
own  precious  message  to  mankind.  It  was  by  the  term 
"  Servant  of  Jehovah  "  that  Jesus  was  proclaimed  as 
Messiah  by  Peter  after  Pentecost  (Acts  iii.  13,  R.V.) 
When  Matthew  relates  the  healing  miracles  of 
Jesus,  he  points  out  that  Isaiah  had  already  said 
of  Him,  "  Himself  bore  our  iniquities  and  carried 
our  sicknesses"  (ix.  17).  When  John  describes  the 
obstinacy  of  Jewish  unbelief,  he  reminds  us  that 
Isaiah    had   asked,   "  Who   hath   believed   our   report 


DISATrOINTMENT  OF   WORLD    WITH  CHRIST      3 

and  to  whom  is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  revealed " 
(xii.  38)  ?  The  same  is  done  by  Paul  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  (x.  16).  Jesus  himself  had  pointed 
His  disciples  to  this  prophecy  when,  after  the  Trans- 
figuration, He  reminded  them  that  "  it  is  written  of 
the  Son  of  Man  that  He  must  suffer  many  things  and 
be  set  at  naught"  (Mark  ix.  12).  Peter,  in  his  First 
Epistle  (ii.  23,  24),  weaves  Isaiah's  words  with  his 
own  when  describing  the  silent  and  patient  Sufferer, 
"who,  when  He  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again;  who 
Plis  own  self  bare  our  sins  in  His  own  body  on  the 
tree;  by  whose  stripes  we  were  healed."  The  use  of 
the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah  is  even  more  explicit 
and  frequent  in  the  early  Christian  literature  of  the 
post-apostolic  age.  We  evidently  have  in  it  a  divinely 
provided  interpretation  by  which  apostolic  as  well  as 
uninspired  thought  was  enabled  to  explain  the  fact  of 
the  Lord's  humiliation,  and  by  which  the  disciples  were 
strengthened  against  all  doubt  as  they  pointed  the 
world  to  such  an  improbable  Messiah,  to  such  an 
uncrowned  King. 

Both  the  prophet's  words  and  the  apostolic  use  of 
them  thus  bring  before  us  the  fact  of  the  disappoint- 
ment which  the  world  naturally  feels  with  Jesus. 
Judged  by  the  standards  of  common  glory  and  great- 
ness, He  is  "without  form  and  comeliness."  This  is 
the  way  in  which  the  Bible  presents  Him.  And  yet 
I  am  afraid  that  this  truth  is  often  obscured  at  the 


4  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

present  time.  Around  the  name  of  Jesus  a  new  glory- 
has  gathered.  The  breaking  of  the  homely  vase  has 
filled  the  world  with  the  fragrance  of  the  heavenly 
ointment  that  was  within.  Under  His  own  influence, 
men  have  come  to  look  with  more  appreciation  at  His 
lowliness  and  to  glorify  His  sufferings.  But  this  is  too 
often  done  by  applying  to  Him  the  world's  standard 
of  greatness,  and  by  attempting  to  show  that,  even 
when  thus  judged,  He  is  not "  without  form  and  come- 
liness." In  this  way  the  measurement  is  changed; 
and  there  often  follows  an  attempt  to  vindicate  His 
right  to  man's  allegiance  because  He  is  the  first  among 
many  masters.  This  is  an  example  of  the  wave  of 
naturalism  which  is  sweeping  over  Christian  thought, 
and  which  decorates  with  its  purple  cloak  the  suffering 
Christ  Himself. 

It  is  not  without  reason,  therefore,  that  we  emphasize 
the  disappointment  which  the  natural  mind  must  ever 
feel  with  the  Christ  of  the  Bible.  Let  me  call  your 
attention  to  the  fact  itself,  and  then  to  its  significance. 

First,  then,  the  fact.  It  appears  most  obviously 
in  the  disappointment  of  the  natural  mind  with  the 
outward  events  of  Christ's  career  on  earth.  So  was  it 
at  the  beginning,  even  to  the  point  of  ridicule.  He  did 
not  appear  with  the  common  insignia  of  royalty.  He 
was  known,  not  even  as  a  Bethlehemite,  but  as  a  Naz- 
arene.  His  career  was  connected  with  no  attempt  at 
political  uprising,  nor  did  He  appeal  to  the  common 


DISAPPOINTMENT  OF   WOK  ID    WITH  CHRIST     5 

ambitions  of  His  people.  He  was  a  simple  preacher  of 
peace  and  righteousness.  He  was  not  a  man  of  the 
aristocracy,  either  social  or  intellectual.  He  was  a 
peasant  and  the  friend  of  publicans.  His  life  was  spent 
among  the  inglorious  poor.  At  last  He  was  over- 
whelmed by  His  enemies  and  crucified,  as  a  malefactor, 
between  two  robbers.  It  was  a  difficult  story  to  make 
attractive  to  the  natural  mind.  To  the  Jew,  it  was  a 
stumbling-block,  and  to  the  Greek,  foolishness.  The 
wonder  is  that,  with  so  little  to  appeal  to  man's  ordi- 
nary ideals  of  greatness  and  beauty,  the  messengers  of 
the  Crucified  should  have  obtained  any  audience  at  all. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  the  world  has  now  learned 
its  mistake,  and  has  come  to  appreciate  the  real  beauty 
of  the  story  of  Jesus.  Does  not  even  scepticism  pay 
tribute  to  Him,  and  acknowledge  that  His  poverty  and 
shame  are  more  honorable  than  wealth  and  crowns  ? 
In  this  matter  it  is  necessary  for  us  carefully  to  dis- 
criminate. 

It  is  true  that  the  power  of  Jesus  in  human  history 
has  thrown  a  glamour  over  the  unlovely  events  of  His 
career ;  so  that  they  have  become  interesting  to  many 
who  would  not  naturally  take  any  interest  in  them 
whatever.  We  all  go  back  to  the  beginnings  of  a 
great  man's  life,  and  invest  them,  however  humble, 
with  historical  sacredness.  The  log-cabin  in  which  a 
President  was  born  interests  us  more  than  if  it  were  a 
stately  mansion,  just  because  of  its  contrast  with  what 


6  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

might  have  been  expected.  But  this  is  only  historical 
interest.  It  does  not  mean  in  the  least  that  the  cabin 
is  thought  beautiful  or  that  we  should  like  to  live  in 
such  a  dwelling. 

Then,  too,  art  has  made  the  life  of  Jesus  the  theme 
of  its  mighty  skill.  It  has  invested  with  the  halo  of 
its  fine  imagination  the  homely  manger  and  the  peasant 
mother,  the  simple  teacher  and  the  Galilaean  fisher- 
man, the  weeping  figure  in  Gethsemane  and  the  bleed- 
ing figure  on  the  cross.  This  has  had  the  effect  of 
making  these  scenes  familiar  and  beloved.  The  world 
glories  in  the  triumphs  of  its  art.  Whatever  art  has 
touched  is  made  an  object  of  veneration.  Its  treat- 
ment of  the  life  of  Christ  has  idealized  the  Christ. 
Even  realistic  art  cannot  help  glorifying  such  a  sub- 
ject. In  consequence  of  this,  the  story  of  Jesus  has 
become  one  of  the  world's  treasures  with  which  the 
maddest  unbelief  would  not  be  willing  to  part. 

And  then  modern  sentiment,  aside  from  art  and  the 
reflex  influence  of  Christianity  on  the  life  of  the  world, 
has  made  the  life  of  Jesus  seem  more  beautiful  than  it 
did  in  ancient  times.  We  do  not  now  care  much  for 
the  trappings  of  royalty.  Labor  has  become  honor- 
able. The  common  people  have  asserted  their  rights. 
The  modern  world  is  democratic.  Self-sacrifice  itself 
is  thought  more  beautiful  than  conquest.  Men's  ideals 
have  partly  changed  under  the  influence  of  Christianity. 
The  modern  world  is  rather  glad  to  be  told  that  its 


DISAPPOINTMENT  OF   WORLD    WITH  CHRIST     "J 

God  was  a  carpenter.  It  is  more  conscious  of  its  own 
wrongs  than  of  its  duties,  and  therefore  is  not  averse 
to  knowing  that  the  Master  was  as  unjustly  treated  as 
it  feels  itself  to  be. 

Thus  from  various  causes  the  offensiveness  of  Christ's 
career  has  apparently  been  removed,  and  the  tempta- 
tion is  strong  to  suppose  that  the  appearance  is  real. 
There  is  no  more  ridicule  heaped  upon  Him.  His 
humiliation  would  rather  seem  to  be  His  greatest  glory. 
But  in  fact  this  rehabilitation  of  Jesus  is  quite  deceptive. 

It  is  still  true  that  to  the  natural  mind  the  facts 
themselves  are  hard  and  unlovely.  It  was  a  peasant's 
life,  after  all.  It  was  wholly  without  ornament  or  am- 
bitious aspiration  or  martial  prowess.  It  was  a  self- 
repressing  life.  It  is  a  story  of  hunger,  pain,  persecution, 
and  death ;  and  these  become  beautiful  to  the  world 
only  when  they  are  invested  with  romantic  associ- 
ations. Their  beauty  lies  in  what  we  believe  to  have 
been  before  and  after  and  behind  them.  But  as  the 
bare  facts  were  first  proclaimed  to  an  unprepared 
world,  they  excited  contempt ;  and  if  you  tell  them 
to-day  to  unprepared  heathenism,  they  will  be  likely  to 
meet  with  the  same  reception. 

Nor  do  they  correspond  with  the  actual  ideals  of  the 
natural  mind,  even  when  the  latter  has  been  affected  by 
Christianity.  Who  would  be  so  bold  as  to  affirm  that 
men  really  admire  meekness,  self-crucifixion,  gentle- 
ness, and  patience  ?    Or  if  a  measure  of  admiration  for 


8  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

these  virtues  be  forced  from  some  by  the  power  of 
Christian  education,  who  would  maintain  that  they  are 
the  real  ideals  of  the  modern  any  more  than  of  the 
ancient  world  ?  The  common  life  of  mankind  un- 
happily would  belie  such  an  assertion.  The  world  in 
its  heart  sees  no  beauty  in  them,  and  turns  with  joy 
from  the  gloomy  contemplation  of  such  things  to  the 
glittering  prizes  which  its  self-love  and  ambition  see. 

And  to  crown  it  all,  when  the  lowly,  suffering  Christ 
is  presented  as  the  only  Saviour ;  when  the  world  is 
summoned  to  cast  away  all  its  pride  and  trust  for  sal- 
vation to  His  merits  alone;  the  old  offensiveness  returns 
in  all  its  power.  This  is  no  more  a  welcome  message 
now  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  Paul.  To  the  natural 
mind,  it  is  foolishness.  Salvation  must  be  gained,  if  at 
all,  by  ourselves.  Reason  is  the  true  guide  and  the 
human  will  the  saving  power.  We  may  invest  the 
Nazarene's  life  with  all  the  glamour  which  art  senti- 
ment and,  historical  association  can  give ;  we  may 
appeal  with  all  eloquence  to  Him  as  the  true  ideal  of 
character  over  against  the  false ;  but  when  we  go 
farther  and  present  the  Nazarene  as  the  only  one  who 
is  able  to  save,  His  life  as  our  righteousness,  His 
death  as  our  sacrifice,  then  the  natural  mind  turns 
away,  as  of  old,  with  open  or  concealed  denial. 

If,  then,  we  turn  from  the  outward  events  of  Christ's 
career  to  consider  Him  as  a  teacher,  how  does  He  fare 
in  the  estimate  of  the  natural  mind  ?     In  this  aspect 


DISAPPOINTMENT  OF   WORLD    WITH  CHRIST     9 

He  comes  into  comparison  with  the  other  famous  in- 
structors of  humanity.  When  judged  as  they  are,  is 
He  likely  to  be  rated  as  high  as  they  ?  Of  course,  it 
is  admitted  on  all  sides  that  He  was  a  great  teacher. 
All  are  forced  to  concede  this.  But  the  reverence  of 
the  natural  mind  for  Him  even  as  a  teacher  is  more  a 
concession  to  tradition  than  a  real  veneration.  When 
we  bring  Him  into  comparison  with  others,  and  if  we 
apply  to  Him  the  tests  by  which  the  admission  of  their 
greatness  is  secured,  the  result,  from  the  world's  point 
of  view,  is  again  disappointing. 

For  one  thing,  Jesus  was  not  an  author.  He  made 
no  contribution  to  the  world's  literature.  His  dis- 
ciples did  under  His  influence,  but  He  himself  did  not. 
In  this  indeed  He  was  like  Socrates ;  but  the  fact  is 
more  significant  than  may  at  first  appear.  It  indicates 
that  He  did  not  aspire  after  intellectual  renown.  He  did 
not  aim  at  winning  the  world  by  intellectual  methods. 
He  did  not  value  beauty  of  literary  form.  He  was  no 
poet  like  David.  He  left  no  written  code  of  laws 
like  Moses.  He  composed  no  history.  Unlike  even 
the  prophets  and  apostles,  He  did  not  commit  His  in- 
structions to  paper  in  order  to  secure  their  perpetu- 
ation or  to  move  mankind  by  the  genius  of  His 
thought.  By  failing  to  do  this,  He  deliberately  de- 
prived himself  of  one  of  the  chief  instruments  by 
which  other  teachers  have  won  a  place  among  the 
leaders  of  mankind. 


IO  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

Still  further,  His  method  of  teaching  was  not  philo- 
sophical. The  great  thinkers  of  the  world  have  usually 
won  fame  more  by  the  processes  of  their  thought  than 
by  its  results.  It  is  the  process  of  thought  which 
makes  the  impression  of  intellectual  power.  Herein 
lay  the  power  of  Socrates,  though  he  left  no  literary 
remains.  The  great  philosophers  have  been  famous 
mainly  for  their  methods  of  investigation  and  instruc- 
tion. Plato,  Aristotle,  Descartes,  Kant,  are  far  more 
influential  because  of  the  processes  of  philosophic 
thought  for  which  they  respectively  stand,  than  for  the 
particular  results  of  thought  to  which  they  attained. 
It  is  the  process  which  makes  their  reputation  as 
philosophers :  and  before  the  intellect  in  operation  the 
world  always  has  been  ready  to  bow. 

But  Christ's  teaching  is  quite  devoid  of  philosophical 
method.  It  is  rather  the  simple  affirmation  of  truth 
by  one  who  claimed  to  be  in  authority.  Such  is  the 
express  testimony  of  those  who  heard  Him,  and  it  is 
confirmed  by  the  Gospel  reports.  He  had  none  of  the 
subtle  exegesis  of  the  rabbis,  none  of  the  nobler  dialec- 
tics of  the  Greeks.  He  does  not  impress  us  at  all  as  a 
great  thinker;  because  He  gives  no  evidence  of  either 
effort  or  process  of  thought.  He  does  not  belong  to 
the  class  of  intellectual  giants,  because  He  did  not 
philosophize,  but  simply  bore  His  witness.  If  it  be 
said  that  this  is  because  He  was  an  Oriental,  we  reply 
that    Orientals  have  not  been  the  intellectual  leaders 


DISAPPOINTMENT  OF   WORLD    WITH  CHRIST  II 

of  the  world.  But  He  did  not  stand  comparison, 
from  their  own  point  of  view,  with  the  rabbis  of 
His  own  nation.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  give  Him 
the  same  honor  which  belongs  to  the  other  teachers 
of  the  world. 

It  is  still  more  important  to  observe  in  this  con- 
nection that  Jesus  did  not  deal,  as  a  teacher,  with  those 
subjects  which  have  commonly  been  thought  to  form 
the  natural  sphere  of  intellectual  genius.  He  did  not 
discuss  the  nature  of  the  world,  or  of  the  soul,  or  of 
absolute  being.  He  did  not  lead  men  into  the  labora- 
tory of  nature.  He  did  not  deal  with  metaphysics. 
He  did  not  solve  the  mystery  of  evil.  He  gave  utter- 
ance to  no  flights  of  imagination.  He  did  not  even 
present  religious  truth  in  a  systematized  form.  On  all 
these  subjects  His  person  and  His  teaching  throw, 
for  the  Christian,  infinite  light.  But  He  was  not  what 
the  world  calls  a  philosopher  or  a  poet  in  respect  to 
the  method  of  His  teaching.  He  belongs  to  a  different 
class.  His  type  is  the  prophet ;  and  while  in  the  end 
the  world  may  acknowledge  the  prophet's  mission,  it 
does  not  class  him  so  high  as  the  philosopher. 

Thus  when  we  apply  to  Christ  the  standards  by 
which  other  men,  great  in  the  realm  of  intellect,  have 
been  measured,  the  world  finds  Him  wanting.  He 
suffers  in  this  respect  even  by  comparison  with  some 
of  His  disciples.  The  final  proof  of  it  is  that  the  world, 
in  fact,  does  not  reckon   Him  in  the  list  of  its  intel- 


12  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

lcctual  leaders.  You  do  not  find  His  name,  except 
incidentally,  in  the  histories  of  philosophy  or  literature. 
And  this  judgment  of  Him  is  correct.  He  was  not 
what  is  commonly  called  a  great  thinker;  He  was 
incarnate  thought.  He  was  not  a  seeker  after  truth  ; 
He  was  truth  itself.  When  men  seek  in  Him  for  the 
glory  of  intellectual  genius,  as  this  is  elsewhere  esti- 
mated, they  simply  do  not  find  its  marks. 

Still  again,  when  the  natural  mind  approaches  Jesus 
as  a  moral  teacher — the  sphere  in  which  He  is  pre- 
eminent— He  is  still  in  many  respects  not  such  as 
the  world  thinks  such  a  teacher  ought  to  be.  For 
He  did  not  do  the  things  which  most  other  teachers 
of  morality  have  sought  to  do,  and  for  doing  which 
praise  is  accorded  to  them.  For  example,  He  made 
no  effort  to  set  right  the  crying  evils  of  the  society 
of  His  day.  There  were  many  of  these :  violent 
military  oppression  ;  the  enforced  slavery  of  thousands  ; 
the  tyranny  of  the  wealthy  few  over  the  pauper  mul- 
titudes. But  Jesus  did  not  lift  up  His  voice  against 
slavery,  or  war,  or  class  oppression.  He  inveighed 
indeed  against  trust  in  riches,  but  He  did  so  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  individual.  He  did  not  deal  with 
political  or  economic  questions.  He  was  not  so  much 
of  a  reformer  as  John  the  Baptist  was.  Why,  men 
ask,  did  He  not  explicitly  solve  for  the  world  the 
grievances  which  have  lain  so  heavily  upon  human  life 
concerning   its   social    condition  ?       Have    not    these 


DISAPPOINTMENT  OF   WORLD    WITH  CHRIST  1 3 

grievances  become  only  the  more  deeply  felt  as  the 
spirit  of  Christianity  has  spread?  Why,  then,  did  not 
the  author  of  Christianity  deal  with  them  at  the  first? 

Of  course,  we  who  are  His  followers,  now  know 
that  His  method  was  the  wisest.  Immediate  social 
reconstruction  would  have  prevented  the  spread  of 
those  ethical  principles  by  which  alone  such  recon- 
struction has  been  at  all  possible.  But  the  fact 
remains  that  in  the  world's  estimate  Jesus  is,  even 
as  a  moral  teacher,  a  disappointment.  Many  an  earnest 
reformer  has  wished  that  Jesus  had  not  practiced  so 
much  reserve  on  these  subjects.  Others,  more  im- 
petuous, have  even  declaimed  against  Him  in  this  very 
sphere.  To  much  of  modern  humanitarianism  does 
He  seem  to  come  far  short  of  what  the  ideal  saviour 
of  society  ought  to  be.  When  we  face  the  bitter, 
furious,  practical  grievances  of  modern  social  life  with 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  Golden  Rule,  and  the 
doctrine  of  Self-sacrifice,  how  little  welcome  has  the 
natural  mind  for  these  remedies  !  There  is  no  beauty 
in  them. 

Thus,  I  think,  the  effort  to  show  the  greatness  and 
beauty  of  Christ  by  means  of  those  considerations  by 
which  greatness  and  beauty  are  elsewhere  estimated 
inevitably  fails.  The  fact  is  one  that  ought  not  to  be 
concealed.  To  the  natural  mind,  under  the  power  of 
self-love,  what  beauty  is  there  in  poverty,  humility, 
renunciation,    suffering,   and   death?     To  the  natural 


14  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

intellect,  what  greatness  in  a  teacher  whose  only  mes- 
sage was  about  God  and  holiness,  who  gave  no  evi- 
dence of  profound  intellectual  methods,  and  did  not 
deal  at  all  with  the  problems  of  science  and  philoso- 
phy? The  ardent  reformer,  if  his,  too,  be  the  natural 
mind,  grows  impatient  with  thi^  teacher  who  seems 
to  avoid  the  social  complications  of  morality.  Let 
me  not  be  misunderstood.  With  all  my  soul,  I  bow 
in  homage  before  the  very  qualities  in  Jesus  at  which 
the  world  takes  offence.  His  life  is  the  true  ideal, 
before  the  splendor  of  which  the  common  ideals  of 
the  world  are  as  glittering  dross  to  gold.  His  teach- 
ing contains  the  true  philosophy ;  and  unless  philoso- 
phy accept  both  His  affirmations  and  His  implications, 
it  will  ever  remain  a  fruitless  search.  His  ethics, 
likewise,  are  the  true  basis  of  all  social  reconstruction 
as  well  as  of  a  noble  individual  life.  But,  as  He 
stands  before  us  in  His  historic  career  on  earth,  and 
when  He  is  measured  by  the  standards  of  greatness 
and  beauty  employed  by  the  natural  mind,  He  is  still 
"without  form  or  comeliness."  He  is  a  disappoint- 
ment. Praise  of  Him  may  be  wrung  from  men 
through  the  influence  which  He  himself  has  had  upon 
the  world,  and  which  has  forced  its  way  even  into 
unbelieving  minds.  But  the  natural  mind,  now  as  of 
old,  can  on  its  own  principles  give  no  real  recognition 
of  His  intrinsic  glory.  Its  forced  and  feeble  praises 
should  not  hide  the  fact  of  its  essential  rejection. 


DISAPPOINTMENT  OF   WORLD    WITH  CHRIST  1 5 

Such  I  take  to  be  the  fact.  Let  us  consider  its 
significance. 

It  has,  first,  a  very  important  historical  signifi- 
cance. For,  in  view  of  our  discussion,  the  question 
must  arise,  How  is  the  overwhelming  power  of  Jesus 
over  His  first  disciples  to  be  explained?  How  did  He 
succeed  in  originating  Christianity?  How  came  it  that 
He  won  His  way  so  rapidly  into  the  confidence  and 
veneration  of  so  many  both  in  the  Jewish  and  the  Gen- 
tile world?  The  origin  of  Christianity  ought  to  be  an 
enigma  to  the  natural  mind.  As  I  have  shown,  Jesus 
was  utterly  devoid  of  those  qualities  which  are  usually 
thought  able  to  start  and  to  sustain  such  a  movement. 
His  external  life  was  fitted  to  arouse  ridicule  and  con- 
tempt, and  did  arouse  them.  He  did  not  move  the 
minds  of  men  by  the  power  of  intellectual  genius.  He 
initiated  no  social  reform.  But  these  have  been  the 
chief  motive-powers  by  which  other  similar  movements 
have  been  originated.  It  will  not  do  to  say  that  mere 
affection  for  His  person  explains  this  power,  for  that 
would  need  to  have  been  based  on  deeper  ..reasons  if  it 
were  to  influence  any  but  a  very  few.  Mohammed 
relied  on  the  power  of  the  sword.  Socrates  became 
famous  as  an  intellectual  genius.  But  Jesus  was  neither 
soldier  nor  philosopher.  What  then  was  the  power  of 
this  lowly  and  crucified  Nazarene? 

The  only  sufficient  answer  is  that  He  gave  to  His 
followers    supernatural    evidence  that  He  had    come 


1 6  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

from  God.  This  was  supplied  by  His  resurrection; 
and  then  it  was  confirmed  by  their  experience  of 
reconciliation  with  God  through  faith  in  Him.  Take 
away  the  supernatural  from  the  origin  of  Christian- 
ity, and  you  have  an  effect  without  a  cause.  If  it 
be  said  that  it  originated  in  enthusiasm  for  Jesus, 
and  that  around  this  crystallized  religious  and  intel- 
lectual ideas  which  gave  force  to  the  movement, 
we  ask  how  are  we  to  account  for  this  original  en- 
thusiasm when  Jesus,  if  He  be  stripped  of  the  super- 
natural, was  without  the  qualities  which  on  natural 
principles  arouse  the  zeal  of  men.  To  the  thorough- 
going evolutionist  His  power  must  remain  inscrutable. 
It  is  like  the  beginning  of  life  in  nature.  It  is  like  the 
origin  of  mind.  In  fact,  only  a  supernatural  cause  will 
explain  the  phenomena.  So  disappointing  a  Messiah, 
so  improbable  a  Saviour,  so  unphilosophical  a  Teacher, 
could  not  have  originated  the  greatest  movement  in 
the  world's  history  if  the  power  of  God  had  not  been 
with  Him  and  in  Him.  Certainly  at  least  did  the  first 
disciples  themselves  realize  that  it  was  only  the  power 
of  God  which  could  secure  the  faith  of  men.  This  is 
Paul's  explicit  declaration.  He  was  right.  The  origin 
of  Christianity  was  supernatural ;  or  else,  on  natural 
principles,  it  remains  an  insoluble  enigma. 

But  the  fact  which  we  are  considering  has  also  a 
profound  religious  significance.  For  another  question 
arises,  viz.,  Why  did  God  thus  reveal  Himself  through 


DISAPPOINTMENT  OF   WORLD    WITH  CHRIST    l? 

His  Messiah  in  such  utter  lowliness  ?  It  would  have 
been  easy  for  Christ  to  have  eclipsed  all  others  in  their 
own  spheres.  He  might  have  been  born  like  a  king. 
He  might  have  given  us  the  ultimate  philosophy.  He 
might  have  entered  at  once  on  the  reconstruction  of 
the  world.  He  might  have  done  these  things,  that  is, 
so  far  as  His  power  was  concerned.  But  could  He 
have  fulfilled  His  purpose  in  these  ways?  The  Bible 
answers  that  He  could  not.  And  why?  Because  the 
radical  need  is  not  knowledge.  It  is  redemption. 
The  salvation  of  the  wrorld  primarily  depends  upon 
the  provision  of  an  atonement.  The  debt  of  sin  must 
be  paid.  Eternal  justice  must  first  be  satisfied.  Only 
then  will  knowledge  profit.  Only  then  can  individual 
holiness  be  reached.  Only  then  can  social  recon- 
struction proceed. 

This  is  the  truth  which  the  natural  mind  does  not 
perceive.  Its  blindness  to  this  is  the  cause  of  its 
failure  to  appreciate  Jesus.  The  need  of  redemp- 
tion is  the  fact  which  alone  explains  the  lowliness 
of  the  Christ.  So  Isaiah  declared.  After  our  text  he 
explains,  "He  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities;  the  chas- 
tisement of  our  peace  was  upon  Him;  and  with  His 
stripes  we  are  healed."  This  'is  the  only  adequate 
explanation.  So  long  as  men  feel  no  need  of  redemp- 
tion, they  will  be  disappointed  with  Jesus.  So  long  as 
they  apply  to  Him  earthly  standards,  He  will  fail  to 
win  their  entire  allegiance.     But  when  they  feel  their 


1 8  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

guilt,  then  will  they  sec  that  their  earthly  standards 
are  out  of  place,  and  that  the  very  absence  from  Him 
of  earthly  glory  is  the  way  by  which  He  fulfils  a 
grander  purpose  and  meets  their  direst  need.  It  is,  in 
short,  not  possible  to  understand  or  to  appreciate  Jesus 
Christ  until  redemption  by  sacrifice  is  perceived  to  be 
the  keynote  of  His  mission. 

And  therefore  I  would  indicate  the  practical  sig- 
nificance of  the  fact,  which  we  have  considered,  espe- 
cially for  preachers  of  Christianity.  If  we  present  to 
men  the  Christ  of  the  Bible,  we  may  expect  to  find 
the  natural  mind  ever  disappointed  with  Him.  And  it 
will  not  be  worth  our  while  to  try  to  remove  the 
prejudice  by  arraying  Him  in  tawdry  robes  that  do  not 
belong  to  Him.  We  shall  not  secure  true  allegiance 
to  Him  by  instituting  a  comparison  between  Him  and 
other  masters.  If  we  could  show  that  He  surpassed 
all  others  in  their  spheres,  we  should  still  have  failed  in 
our  mission.  In  fact,  however,  as  I  have  stated,  the 
comparison  will  be  disappointing.  Such  efforts  are 
but  little  better  than  when  the  soldier  cast  the  purple 
cloak  upon  Him  and  cried,  "  Hail,  King  of  the  Jews  !" 

Nay,  we  must  present  Him  as  He  really  is.  He 
must  ever  be  known  as  the  Crucified.  Just  because 
He  is  that,  are  we  sure  that  He  is  the  Divine.  He  is 
not  to  be  measured  by  others.  He  is  so  infinitely 
noble,  that  these  measurements  do  not  apply  to  Him. 
But,  whenever  by  the  Spirit  of  God  human  souls  are 


DISAPPOINTMENT  OF   WORLD    WITH  CHRIST    1 9 

wakened  to  the  reality  of  guilt  and  to  the  bondage  of 
sin,  will  they  sec  that,  as  despised  and  rejected  of  men, 
Jesus  is  what  they  need.  With  this  all  their  judgments 
will  change.  The  false  splendor  of  the  world's  pomp 
will  fade  away.  The  pride  of  intellect  will  abase  itself 
before  Him  as  the  highest  truth.  Even  the  striving 
after  good  will  change  into  a  striving  after  God.  The 
unutterable  glory  of  the  Cross  will  dawn  upon  them. 
Christ  will  no  more  be  one  of  many  masters.  He  will 
be  the  Lamb  and  the  Word  of  God.  O,  thou  man  of 
sorrows,  how  much  more  glorious  art  Thou  than  any 
dream  of  human  greatness  !  To  the  guilty  conscience, 
how  priceless  is  Thy  blood  !  To  the  prodigal  seeking 
the  divine  Father,  how  welcome  is  the  knowledge 
of  Thine  obedience !  Yea,  Thou  dost  draw  near  to 
us  by  Thy  very  lowliness ;  Thou  dost  disclose  the 
true  beauty  of  love  by  Thy  very  shame !  Thou 
only,  despised  and  rejected  One,  Thou  only  canst 
save ! 

My  brothers,  take  this  divine  and  despised  Redeemer 
to  the  world.  Put  Him  in  no  pantheon  of  great  men. 
Glory  in  His  humiliation.  Let  others  appear  to  sur- 
pass Him  in  the  estimate  of  the  world.  Do  you  point 
out  that  He  is  greater  than  all  because  He  is  less  than 
all ;  worthy  of  worship  because  He  was  deemed  un- 
worthy by  the  world  ;  able  to  save  because  He  would 
not  save  Himself;  the  One  altogether  lovely  because 
in  the  poor  world's  sight  u  without  form  or  comeli- 


20  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

ness."  Preach  and  trust  "  Christ  crucified,  unto  the 
Jews  a  stumbling-block,  and  unto  the  Greeks  fool- 
ishness ;  but  unto  them  which  are  called,  both  Jews 
and  Greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wis- 
dom of  God." 


II 

THE   ALPHA   AND   OMEGA 

"  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega." — Revelation  xxii.  13. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  the  central  figure  of  the 
whole  vision  seen  by  Saint  John  in  Patmos,  even  as 
the  coming  of  Christ  is  the  theme  of  the  whole 
Apocalypse.  That  remarkable  book  begins  with  the 
appearance  of  the  glorified  Saviour  to  His  beloved 
disciple.  John  heard  behind  him  a  great  voice,  as 
of  a  trumpet,  saying,  "  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the 
first  and  the  last."  And  he  beheld,  in  the  midst  of 
the  seven  golden  candlesticks,  one  like  unto  the  Son 
of  man,  but  strangely  different  from  the  lowly  form  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  because  invested  with  the  symbols 
of  divine  majesty  and  power. 

This  appearance  gives  the  key  to  all  the  following 

visions.     The  messages  to  the  seven  churches  of  Asia 

were  from  this  Christ;  they  were  delivered  with  all 

the    authority    of  a  master;    and  they  rebuked    and 

praised   with    the    sovereignty    of  an    absolute    king. 

Then,   in     the    vision  of   the    throne   in  heaven,   the 

seer   beheld  in   the    midst  of   the  throne  and  of  the 

four  living  creatures,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  elders, 

21 


22  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

a  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain,  who  came  and  took 
the  book  of  the  decrees  out  of  the  right  hand  of 
God,  and  before  whom  the  heavenly  multitude  fell 
down  with  loud  and  long  worship.  So  when  the  first 
seal  of  the  book  was  broken,  Christ,  on  a  white  horse, 
was  seen  to  ride  forth,  with  a  crown  given  Him,  con- 
quering and  to  conquer.  Again,  He  is  represented  as 
the  Child  of  Israel,  caught  up  at  birth  unto  God  and  to 
His  throne,  against  whom  the  dragon  and  his  angels, 
and  the  beasts  which  obey  the  dragon's  will,  incessantly 
make  war.  Still  again  He  issues  forth  from  heaven 
on  His  work  of  conquest,  followed  by  the  armies  of  the 
skies,  and  bearing  on  His  vesture  and  on  His  thigh  the 
name  written,  King  of  Kings,  and  Lord  of  Lords. 
And  finally  He  proclaims  Himself  the  author  of  His 
Apostle's  vision :  "  I  Jesus  have  sent  mine  angel  to 
testify  unto  you  these  things  in  the  churches.  I  am 
the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David,  and  the  bright  and 
morning  star."  For  as  in  the  early  twilight,  when  the 
light  and  darkness  combat  with  each  other,  the  morn- 
ing star  heralds  the  coming  day,  so  amid  these  visions 
of  the  conflict  between  spiritual  light  and  darkness  is 
the  figure  of  Christ.  The  sure  herald  of  the  splendor 
of  the  everlasting  dawn,  He  stands  forth  supremely — 
the  Christ  glorifying  Himself  by  glorifying  His  people — 
the  Christ  conquering,  ruling,  judging,  and  rewarding. 
According  to  the  same  Apostle,  He  was  the  Eternal 
Word,  who  in  the  beginning  was  with  God  and  was 


THE  ALPHA   AND    OMEGA  23 

God.  According  to  this  same  Apostle,  the  Word  had 
become  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us,  full  of  grace  and 
truth.  And  now  He  is  King  over  all  things,  leading 
to  everlasting  triumph  the  hosts  of  God.  What  won- 
der that  there  should  echo  from  the  lips  of  Christ 
Himself,  through  all  the  Apocalypse,  this  phrase, 
which  seems  to  contain  all  the  Lord's  glorious  history : 
"  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end, 
the  first  and  the  last !" 

The  general  meaning  of  the  phrase  is  evident 
enough.  It  sets  forth  the  supremacy,  the  sovereignty, 
the  everlastingness  of  Christ,  the  author,  the  governor, 
and  the  goal  of  all  creation.  But  it  is  not,  we  think, 
too  fanciful  to  perceive  in  the  first  clause  a  particular 
form  in  which  the  general  idea  is  expressed.  What, 
then,  we  ask,  is  indicated  by  this  title  appropriated  by 
Christ,  "  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega  "  ?  Its  suggestiveness 
will  appear  in  the  following  way.  The  first  and  last 
letters  of  the  alphabet  may  be  used  to  represent  in 
brief  the  sum  and  substance  of  any  subject.  Just  as 
we  call  the  elements  of  any  study  its  A  B  C,  so  that 
which  is  the  all-pervading  idea,  the  centre,  the  sub- 
stance of  any  treatise,  would  be  its  Alpha  and  Omega. 
It  would  be  found  everywhere  throughout  the  volume. 
It  would  be  implied  where  it  is  not  expressed.  It 
would  be  the  main  theme  of  which  all  else  would  be  a 
variation.  Furthermore,  language  is  the  expression 
of  thought.      When,  therefore,  Christ  declares  Him- 


24  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

self  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  He  declares  Himself  the 
sum  and  substance  of  expressed  thought,  the  all- 
pervading  and  central  theme  to  which  utterance  has 
been  given.  But  given  by  whom  ?  Of  whose 
thought  is  He  the  expression  ?  Of  whose  lan- 
guage is  He  the  theme  ?  There  can  be  but  one  an- 
swer. It  is  God's  thought  which  He  expresses ;  God's 
language  of  which  He  is  the  utterance.  This,  then,  is 
the  mighty  truth  proclaimed  in  our  text — that  Christ 
is  the  sum  and  the  substance  of  God's  revealed  thought. 
He  is  the  first  and  the  last,  for  "  in  the  beginning  was 
the  Word,"  and  He  is  "  the  heir  of  all  things  "  ;  He  is 
"  the  beginning  and  the  end,"  for  "  all  things  were 
created  by  Him  and  for  Him."  But  He  is,  furthermore, 
also  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  actual  substance, 
the  single,  universal  theme  of  God's  revealed  thought. 
Now,  in  order  afterward  to  exhibit  the  richness  of 
this  truth,  let  me  remind  you,  first,  that,  in  Bible  teach- 
ing, the  history  of  the  world,  both  natural  and  moral, 
and  still  more  clearly  the  history  of  redemption,  are 
but  the  records  in  time  of  God's  original  thought  He 
has  already  thought  out  that  which  takes  place  in 
His  creation.  The  world,  in  all  its  parts,  is  the  revela- 
tion of  the  divine  mind — of  the  idea  which  God  had 
from  and  before  the  start.  This  is  simply  to  say  that 
God  is  an  intelligent  and  almighty  Creator.  He  is  not 
a  force  that  thrust  the  world  blindly  into  being.  He 
is  not  a  law  that  operates  like  the  laws  of  machines. 


THE  ALPHA   AND    OMEGA  2$ 

He  is  a  person;  He  is  a  mind;  He  thinks;  He  plans; 
and  so  He  acts.  He  devised  this  creation  before  He 
created  it.  He  had  the  thought  before  He  proceeded 
to  carry  it  out.  "  He  created  all  things  according  to 
the  counsel  of  His  own  will."  "  He  purposed"  certain 
things  "  in  Himself."  Such  is  the  teaching  of  Scripture, 
and  of  all  spiritual  religion ;  so  that  the  ultimate  secret 
of  all  things  consists  in  God's  thought;  and  the  ulti- 
mate reason  for  all  events  is  to  be  sought  in  God's 
original  purpose. 

Without  delaying  longer  on  this  point,  I  will  simply 
remark  that  this  view  is  the  precise  opposite  of  the 
doctrine  of  chance.  If  we  believe  in  a  personal  God 
at  all,  it  would  seem  to  be  almost  impossible  to  sup- 
pose that  He  either  made  or  governs  the  world  in  a 
haphazard  way.  Had  the  world  been  made  by  an 
angel,  its  author  might  not  have  known  what  would  be 
the  result  or  the  history  of  his  own  work ;  just  as  an 
inventor  may  have  no  idea  to  what  uses  his  invention 
will  finally  be  put.  But  the  loftier  and  the  purer  our 
idea  of  God  becomes,  the  more  do  we  feel  that  any- 
thing like  chance  must  be  impossible  in  His  works. 
We  feel  that,  as  the  perfect  intelligence,  He  must  have 
had  in  mind,  from  the  start,  all  the  subsequent  history 
of  His  creation ;  we  feel  that,  as  the  Almighty  One, 
He  must  have  willed  the  world  into  being  with  the 
intention  that  all  that  has  come  to  pass  should  occur. 
We  look  back,  therefore,  to  His  eternal  thought  as  the 


26  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

origin  of  all  accomplished  things.  We  may  not  be  at 
all  able  to  understand  why  He  has  acted  as  He  does, 
or  thought  as  He  has ;  but  we  would  rather  believe  in 
His  wisdom,  in  spite  of  our  inability  to  understand  it, 
than  to  be  left  to  the  monstrous  alternative  that  He 
made  a  world  without  knowing  why  He  made  it,  or 
without  intending  to  do  anything  particular  in  it  or 
with  it. 

And  the  loftier  our  idea  of  the  Divine  Being,  the 
more  do  we  feel  that  we  can  place  absolutely  no 
limit  upon  what  was  embraced  in  the  scope  of  His 
original  purpose.  We  feel,  for  example,  that  it 
must  have  included  the  infinitely  various  world  of 
nature.  That  world  awes  us  by  its  vastness ;  astounds 
us  by  the  intricate  and  subtle  play  of  its  forces.  It 
overwhelms  the  imagination  by  the  perfection  of  its 
machinery,  even  under  the  minutest  examination  of  the 
microscope.  It  reveals  everywhere  the  sway  of  exact 
law.  Men  have  discovered  in  it  a  wonderful  play 
of  forces — one  force  changing  into  others,  while  yet 
the  total  amount  of  energy  in  the  universe  appears  to 
remain  the  same.  It  is  an  immense  unity ;  each  part 
affects  the  other  parts  about  it,  with  the  result  of  pro- 
ducing, in  the  lapse  of  ages,  an  infinite  variety  of  objects 
instead  of  the  formless  chaos  to  which  both  Scripture 
and  science  point  as  having  been  at  the  beginning. 
Now  we  maintain  that  this  natural  world  has  not  been 
produced  by  chance.     I  do  not  necessarily  mean  that 


THE  ALPHA   AND    OMEGA  27 

each  object,  or  each  variety,  or  each  species  of  a  thing 
has  been  directly  created  out  of  nothing  by  the  hand 
of  God.  That  is  another  question.  But  whether  that 
be  so,  or  whether  these  seem  simply  to  have  grown,  in 
either  case  we  hold  to  the  idea  that  they  come  into 
being  according  to  God's  original  design  and  under 
His  supervision.  To  say  that  there  is  no  evidence  of 
mind  in  nature  is  to  shut  one's  eyes  to  the  order  which 
pervades  it ;  to  the  adaptation  to  each  other  of  even  its 
most  distinct  parts ;  and  to  forget,  in  too  minute  study 
of  its  details,  the  magnificent  results  which  have  been 
reached  and  which  an  infinity  of  chances  could  not 
have  produced.  We  prefer  the  old  statement  of  Scrip- 
ture :  "  O  Lord,  how  manifold  are  Thy  works !  In 
wisdom  hast  Thou  made  them  all :  the  earth  is  full  of 
Thy  riches." 

Then,  too,  we  feel  in  like  manner  that  human  history 
must  have  been  included  in  God's  original  thought. 
This  might,  at  first,  appear  more  improbable,  for  the 
reason  that  man  is  a  free  agent,  and  therefore  it  would 
seem  impossible  to  know  beforehand  what  he  would 
do,  and  impossible  to  direct  his  course  without  destroy- 
ing his  freedom.  And  yet  a  moment's  reflection  shows 
the  contrary.  For,  explain  it  as  we  may,  it  is  an  unde- 
niable fact  that  the  history  of  man  has  been  one  of 
growth  and  progress.  That  progress  has  been  in  the 
direction  of  material  improvement  and  of  increasing 
knowledge ;  and  not  only  so,  but  mankind  has  been 


28  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

so  controlled  by  unseen  forces  that  great  results  for 
morals,  and  for  religion,  and  for  the  human  mind,  have 
been  accomplished  which  men  never  devised  them- 
selves. Here,  then,  is  the  evident  fact  that,  though 
men  are  free,  they  are  governed,  they  are  controlled, 
they  carry  out  unwittingly  great  purposes,  the  drift 
of  which  we  can  often  see.  This  confirms  us  in  the 
opinion  that  human  history,  in  all  its  parts,  was  in- 
cluded in  God's  thought  before  even  Adam  stood  in 
his  earthly  Paradise.  "  He  hath  made  of  one  blood 
all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  hath  determined  the  times  before  appointed, 
and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation." 

And  I  need  scarcely  add,  that  the  whole  work  of 
redemption  was  included  in  God's  original  thought — 
that  He  foresaw  and  intended  to  allow  the  fall  of  man, 
though  He  did  not  cause  the  fall ;  that  He  intended 
to  allow  the  dispersion  of  the  nations,  and  to  select 
as  the  recipients  of  His  special  truth  the  children  of 
Abraham ;  that  He  intended  to  reveal  Himself  through 
the  incarnation  of  His  Son,  and  to  apply  Christ's  re- 
demption in  His  own  way  through  the  work  of  the 
Spirit. 

The  history  of  the  world,  therefore,  is  the  record  of 
God's  thought.  I  do  not  wish  to  elaborate  this  idea, 
but  merely  to  impress  it  on  your  minds  for  the  sake  of 
what  will  follow.  I  am  perfectly  aware  that  it  is  not  an 
easy  idea  to  explain;  that  it  is  not  always  clear;  that 


THE  ALPHA   AND    OMEGA  2$ 

there  are  facts  in  the  world's  history  which  it  often 
seems  to  us  God  could  not  have  intended.  But  I  am 
sure  that  it  is  less  difficult  to  explain  these  than  to 
adopt  the  theory  of  chance.  That  would  banish  Him 
altogether  from  His  creation.  That  would  require 
draughts  on  faith  in  comparison  with  which  faith  in 
God  would  be  child's  play.  If  you  stand  in  the  nave 
of  a  cathedral,  it  is  evident  to  your  mind  that  the  build- 
ing was  erected  for  a  purpose,  and  according  to  one  or 
more  architectural  ideas.  You  may  not  admire  the 
architecture  ;  you  may  find  fault  with  the  design  ;  you 
may  be  unable  to  understand  why  certain  features  were 
added  and  others  left  out.  But  as  you  survey  the 
whole,  you  would  not,  because  of  your  criticism  upon 
it,  conclude  that  the  building  rose  by  chance.  Still 
less  can  we  believe  this  of  the  wide  universe.  It  is 
God's  handiwork.  It  is  God's  building.  It  embodies 
divine  thought.  We  are  forced  to  agree  with  the 
Psalmist  that  "  the  counsel  of  the  Lord  standeth  for- 
ever, the  thoughts  of  His  heart  to  all  generations  ";  to 
believe  also  the  solemn  words  of  the  Prophet,  that 
"  the  Lord  of  hosts  hath  sworn,  saying,  Surely  as  I 
have  thought,  so  shall  it  come  to  pass ;  and  as  I  have 
purposed,  so  shall  it  stand  "  ;  and  to  accept  finally  the 
teaching  of  the  Apostle,  of  "  the  purpose  of  Him  who 
worketh  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  His  own  will." 
If  there  be  any  darkness  to  us  in  His  dealings,  we 
should  exclaim,  "  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of 


30  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  !  How  unsearch- 
able are  His  judgments,  and  His  ways  past  finding 
out !  For  who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord  ?  or 
who  hath  been  His  counsellor?  Or  who  hath  first 
given  to  Him,  and  it  shall  be  recompensed  unto  him 
again?  For  of  Him,  and  through  Him,  and  to  Him 
are  all  things  ;  to  whom  be  glory  forever.     Amen." 

With  then  this  in  mind,  we  may  be  prepared  for 
the  declaration  of  Jesus  Christ,  "  I  am  Alpha  and 
Omega."  As  I  have  named  some  of  the  many  things 
included  in  God's  revealed  thought,  you  have  noticed 
that  the  sending  of  Christ  was  mentioned  as  but  one 
of  them,  and  such  is  the  place  which  He  occupies  in 
ordinary  thought.  He  is  considered,  perhaps,  but  one 
among  many  religious  teachers ;  or  if  His  unique 
place  in  redemption  be  recognized,  redemption  itself 
is  considered  as  but  one  of  many  purposes  for  which 
the  world  was  made,  and  sometimes  not  even  the 
most  important.  But  this  is  not  what  Christ  claimed 
for  Himself,  or  the  Bible  for  Him  ;  and  if  I  have  been 
able  to  impress  you  with  the  truth  that  all  creation  is 
the  unfolding  of  God's  thought,  you  will  be  prepared 
to  admit  the  grandeur  of  the  position  which  Christ 
occupies  when  we  are  told  that,  of  all  that  thought 
of  God's  which  has  been  revealed,  He  is  the  sum 
and  substance.     He  is  its  Alpha  and  Omega. 

Let  me  indicate  how  the  vista  of  this  truth  opens 
in  several  directions  before  the  mind's  eye. 


THE  ALPHA   AND    OMEGA  3 1 

I.  In  the  first  place,  then,  He  is  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  the  Bible  itself,  and  so  the  practical  truth, 
the  substance  of  truth  to  be  believed.  The  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  the  Word  of 
God.  They  are  His  language,  utterances  of  His 
thought,  given  from  time  to  time,  and  collected  into 
a  volume.  They  also  reveal  that  plan  of  salvation 
which  all  believers  admit  to  have  been  devised  by 
God  alone.  Here,  then,  is  the  written  record  of  God's 
thought.  He  knew  the  end  of  it  from  the  beginning, 
but  little  by  little  did  He  communicate  it  to  men.  It 
forms  a  book  whose  human  authors  were  not  aware 
of  the  size  and  extent  of  the  revelation  to  which  they 
contributed.  It  contains  various  methods  of  teaching 
— now  by  the  lessons  of  history,  now  by  the  exhorta- 
tions of  the  prophets,  now  by  the  thunders  of  law, 
now  by  the  arguments  of  acute  minds,  and  again  by 
the  examples  of  holy  characters.  It  treats  of  various 
themes — was  composed  under  the  most  various  cir- 
cumstances and  for  the  most  various  purposes. 
God  of  old  times  spoke  "  unto  the  fathers  in  the 
prophets  by  divers  portions  and  in  divers  manners"; 
and  no  less  did  He  so  speak  through  the  apostles  and 
evangelists.  The  book  is  a  mosaic,  made  by  different 
artists  under  the  unknown  direction  of  a  greater  than 
they.  It  is  God's  word  to  man — manifold,  complex, 
and  prolonged ;  and  yet  when  we  receive  it  all,  we 
discover   that,  of  all  this  mass    of  revealed   thought, 


32  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

Jesus  Christ  is  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  sub- 
stance and  the  sum,  the  stone  out  of  which  each 
piece  of  the  mosaic  is  taken,  and  the  figure  which 
all  the  pieces  unite  to  portray. 

You  may  sec  this  by  following  along  the  history 
of  the  revelation  itself.  In  the  earlier  parts,  indeed, 
Christ  is  seldom  mentioned.  The  stream  rises  among 
the  mountains,  a  little  rivulet,  that  might  be  overlooked 
in  the  landscape.  But  slowly  and  surely  it  widens. 
God  tells,  first,  of  the  woman's  seed  that  would  bruise 
the  serpent's  head.  Then,  to  Abraham,  of  his  seed, 
in  whom  all  nations  should  be  blessed.  Then,  through 
Jacob,  of  Shiloh,  the  prince  of  peace ;  through  Moses, 
of  the  future  prophet ;  through  Balaam,  of  the  Rising 
Star;  to  David,  of  his  greater  Son;  through  Isaiah, 
of  the  suffering  Redeemer  and  the  glorious  King : 
and  so  with  louder  and  still  stronger  emphasis,  till 
the  shadows  fly  before  the  rising  of  the  Sun  Himself. 
Then  He  fills  all  the  firmament.  Apostles  preach 
Him ;  evangelists  describe  Him ;  the  Spirit  in  the 
Church  explains  and  glorifies  Him  ;  and,  at  last,  as  we 
have  seen,  prophecy  expires  with  the  vision  of  Christ 
in  glory  coming  to  judge  the  world.  We  realize  now 
that,  of  the  whole  book,  He  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega ; 
and  looking  back  to  the  beginning  we  can  see  that 
though  He  was  but  seldom  mentioned,  He  underlay 
all.  In  the  earliest  sacrifices,  His  sacrifice  was  implied. 
The  ritual  of  the  tabernacle  and  the  temple  anticipated 


THE   ALPHA    AXD    OMEGA  33 

His  coming.  All  that  God  taught  men  of  old  time  was 
part  and  parcel  of  Christ;  so  that  were  it  lost  and  Me 
only  retained,  not  one  whit  of  God's  thought  would 
perish  for  mankind. 

Or  you  may  see  the  same  thing  by  examining  the 
system  of  doctrine  revealed  in  the  Bible.  Its  elements 
are  such  as  these.  It  begins  with  man's  sin  and  guilt, 
declaring  him  to  be  a  lost  soul.  It  then  tells  of  God's 
holiness  and  justice  and  love — the  holiness  which  men 
must  imitate,  the  justice  which  punishes  disobedience, 
the  love  which  reaches  in  fatherly  tenderness  to  us, 
His  fallen  children.  It  adds  to  this  the  failure  of 
man's  efforts  to  please  God,  the  necessity  of  an  atone- 
ment, the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  eternal  rewards 
and  penalties  to  come.  These  are  the  elements,  but 
they  all  are  merged  in  the  single  doctrine  of  the  Christ. 
If  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive. 
If  God  be  just,  Christ  has  satisfied  His  justice  for 
every  one  that  believes.  If  God  be  love,  Christ  reveals 
that  love.  If  God  be  holy,  Christ  enables  man  to  be- 
come holy  likewise.  He  also  brings  immortality  to  light 
by  His  resurrection ;  and  according  as  men  do  or  do 
not  receive  Him  are  they  to  receive  happiness  or  misery 
in  the  future  world.  Christ,  therefore,  is  the  sum  and 
substance  of  Bible  doctrine  as  well  as  of  Bible  history. 
Everything  must  be  viewed  in  His  light.  Everything 
must  be  explained  by  its   relation  to  Him.     He  is  the 

text  on  which  all  else  is  the  comment.     He  is  the  truth 
3 


34  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

of  which  all  else  is  the  application.  He  is  the  centre 
from  which  all  else  radiates,  and  the  foundation  on 
which  all  else  rests.  Not  the  decrees  of  God,  not  the 
law  of  God,  not  the  guilt  of  man,  not  immortality,  not 
any  of  these  other  truths  is  the  central  one ;  but  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  centre.  He  implies  all  the  rest;  looking 
at  Him,  we  look  at  the  light  itself;  we  read  the 
whole  revelation  in  a  glance.  He  is  the  Alpha  and 
the  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end,  the  first  and 
the  last. 

2.  Then  glance  in  another  direction  at  the  vista 
opened  by  our  text.  He  is  the  sum  and  substance  of 
all  human  history,  and  so  the  guiding  principle  of  all 
thoughts. 

I  have  already  maintained  that  all  history  is  the  un- 
folding of  divine  thought.  God's  purposes  embraced 
not  merely  the  Jews  and  the  Christian  Church,  but  all 
mankind.  He  intended  to  leave  the  nations  for  a  while 
to  their  own  ways,  as  though  to  prove  thereby  the 
impossibility  of  living  aright  without  His  aid ;  and  in 
the  fullness  of  time  to  unite  them  in  the  faith  of  the 
Gospel.  We  ask,  then,  whether  it  is  possible  to  dis- 
cover in  history  any  movement,  embracing  all  peoples, 
and  leading  to  one  universal  goal.  At  first  sight,  it 
might  appear  impossible.  The  nations  of  the  world 
have  lived  at  cross-purposes,  have  fought  furiously 
against  each  other,  and  have  differed,  the  one  from 
the  other,  in  ten  thousand  ways.    Each  has  seemed  to 


THE   ALPHA    A. YD    OMEGA  35 

go  its  own  road,  making  its  own  religion,  establishing 
its  own  laws,  working  out  its  own  destiny.  But  is  this 
appearance  not  deceptive?  Is  there  visible  no  general 
movement  of  humanity  in  one  direction  ?  Have  not 
many  barriers  been  broken  down,  so  as  to  tend 
toward  the  discovery  of  one  human  race  ?  Is  not 
also  the  contrast  already  great  between  the  separation 
of  people  from  people  which  antiquity  showed  and 
the  amalgamation  of  all  into  one  which  in  some 
measure  modern  life  discloses  ?  Is  not  the  human 
mind  the  same  everywhere,  and  cannot  we  see  that 
the  drift  of  human  life  is  toward  some  single  goal 
common  to  all  the  world  ? 

If  so,  what  is  that  goal  ?  Once  discover  it,  and  you 
will  have  the  sum  and  substance  of  man's  history  ; 
the  object  for  which  he  has  been  made  to  live. 
What  is  it  then  ?  Is  it  mere  political  unity  ?  That 
seems  as  far  off  as  ever.  Is  it  merely  secular 
knowledge,  or  knowledge  applied  to  the  comforts 
of  life  ?  That  would  leave  unchanged  the  moral 
nature  of  man,  and  the  race  would  continue  to  show, 
even  when  most  enlightened,  as  much  crime  and  sin 
as  now.  No,  the  goal  of  history  is  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  and  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ !     He  is  its  Alpha  and  Omega. 

We  can  obtain  a  hint  of  this  by  recalling  that  re- 
markable combination  of  circumstances,  which  Saint 
Paul  called  the  fullness  of  time,  with   which  you  all 


36  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

are  familiar,  and  by  which  Christ  came  into  the 
world  at  precisely  the  moment  when  natural  re- 
ligion was  worn  out,  when  the  Jewish  Church  had 
ended  its  mission,  when  the  civilized  world  had 
one  language  to  convey  the  Gospel  and  one  gov- 
ernment to  protect  it.  But  this  is  only  a  hint  of 
a  larger  truth,  namely,  that  the  one  divine  purpose 
which  runs  through  all  human  life  is  to  create  the  age 
in  which  every  knee  shall  bow  to  Jesus,  and  in  which 
the  human  race  shall  find  its  perfection  of  both  brain 
and  heart  in  the  Kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son.  Christ's 
Kingdom  is  the  end  of  history.  His  character,  the  goal 
of  man.  All  that  conflicts  with  Him  shall  be  cast  out 
of  the  world  He  has  redeemed.  Only  what  is  Christ- 
like will  survive  therein.  And  as  we  shall  look  back 
upon  human  life  from  the  glorious  future,  we  shall 
confess  that  He  was  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the 
beginning  and  the  end,  the  first  and  the  last,  the  sum 
and  the  substance  of  this  world's  long,  confused  life. 

3.  But  I  would  have  you  look  at  this  truth  in  another 
direction,  and  this  time  apply  the  telescope  of  God's 
Word  to  the  vast  universe  above  and  beyond  our 
world,  for  you  will  find  that  Christ  is  the  Alpha  and 
the  Omega  of  all  creation,  and  so  also  the  goal  to 
which  all  leads.  We  have  ascended,  step  by  step, 
upon  the  mount  of  vision,  and,  as  the  landscape  has 
widened,  have  beheld  the  same  figure  of  Christ,  the 
central  object  in  Patmos  and  in  the  world,  in  the  Bible 


THE  ALPHA   AND    OMEGA  37 

and  in  all  history.  Now  we  are  to  gaze  beyond  earth, 
and  into  the  starry  spaces — back  into  the  silent  eter- 
nity, up  to  the  throne  of  God,  on  into  the  ages  to  come, 
and  lo !  He,  around  whom  this  world  gathers,  is  found 
to  be  still  the  centre  of  God's  creation,  the  Alpha  and 
Omega  of  God's  thought. 

I  would  that  I  could  convey  to  you  the  wonder- 
ful impression  of  the  dignity  of  Jesus  Christ  which 
I  derive  from  the  pages  of  God's  Word.  Let  me 
simply  indicate  whither  our  thought  should  tend. 
We  should  turn  first  to  the  opening  of  Saint  John's 
Gospel :  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the 
Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  .  .  . 
All  things  were  made  by  Him ;  and  without  Him 
was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made.  In  Him 
was  life ;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men."  What 
means  this  language,  but  that  the  Son  of  God,  who 
became  flesh  in  Jesus  Christ,  is  so  emphatically  the 
revelation  of  God's  thought  that  He  is  called  literally 
the  Word  of  God,  and  that  He  has  been  so  from  the 
very  beginning  of  all  things  ?  Christ  is  God's  utter- 
ance; He  is  all  of  God's  revealed  thought.  Through 
Him  the  Father  works.  He  created  the  world.  He 
is  the  world's  spiritual  light.  There  is  this  grand 
thought  conveyed  by  the  Apostle,  that  God  has  re- 
vealed Himself  only  through  His  Son  ;  the  Son  is  the 
revelation ;  He  is  the  medium  through  which  God 
shines  forth  and  acts  and  loves.     To  take  an  imperfect 


38  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

illustration  :  If  a  father  should  bequeath  to  his  child 
an  invention,  endow  him  with  the  results  of  all  his  own 
labors,  and  that  child  should  put  that  invention  into 
practice;  then  the  child  would  be  prepared  to  con- 
vey the  father's  thought.  And  so  we  are  taught  did 
the  Son  of  God  contain  in  Him  and  carry  into  action 
all  the  Divine  Father's  thought.  He  is  the  Word  of 
God;  all  that  God  has  revealed  of  Himself  has  been 
through  His  Son. 

Then,  with  this  in  mind,  we  turn  to  the  first  chapter 
of  Ephesians,  and  discover  the  same  truth  put  in  a 
different  way  and  differently  applied.  We  read  that 
Christ  is  the  medium  through  which  all  God's  loving 
thoughts  toward  His  people  have  been  carried  out.  He 
has  blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  Christ. 
He  has  chosen  us  in  Christ  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world.  In  Christ  we  have  redemption,  through 
His  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  This  means 
that  the  decrees  of  God,  and  the  love  and  salvation 
of  God,  are  all  looked  upon  by  God  Himself  through 
Christ ;  Christ  being  the  medium  by  which  they  are 
carried  out,  the  glass  through  which  they  are  seen,  the 
representative  through  whom  they  are  conveyed  and 
distributed  to  us. 

And  yet  not  merely  is  He  the  Agent  of  our  Christian 
lives.  He  is  now  the  Head  over  all  things.  He  ad- 
ministers God's  wide  government.  He  is  appointed 
Heir  of  all  things,  He  by  Whom  God  made  the  worlds. 


THE  ALPHA   AND    OMEGA  39 

He  is  in  God's  place,  exalted  above  all  principality 
and  power,  that  He  might  fill  all  things.  And  to 
what  end  ?  This  question  is  answered  by  Saint  Paul 
in  a  sentence  which  is  itself  the  complete  statement  of 
our  text  and  of  the  idea  we  have  deduced  from  it  He 
wrote  again  to  the  Ephesians  that  God  has  "  made 
known  unto  us  the  mystery  of  His  will  " — i.  e.,  that 
eternal  thought  of  which  the  universe  is  the  copy — 
"according  to  the  good  pleasure  which  He  purposed  in 
Himself — namely,  this,  that  in  the  dispensation  of  the 
fullness  of  times  He  might  sum  up  in  one  all  things 
in  Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  on 
earth."  Christ  is  the  end  to  which  absolutely  all 
things  tend — not  merely  the  little  life  of  man,  but  the 
greater  life  of  the  whole  creation.  As  in  the  begin- 
ning, He  revealed  God,  so  at  the  end  will  He  do  the 
same,  but  with  that  fullness  of  revelation  which  only 
the  long  history  of  conflict  between  sin  and  righteous- 
ness could  produce.  As  He  was  at  the  beginning,  so 
will  He  be  in  the  end,  but  with  all  that  He  has  done 
meanwhile,  with  all  that  through  Him  and  with  Him 
men  have  learned  meanwhile,  spread  out  to  view. 

For  this,  I  take  it,  is  to  be  the  end  of  time. 
When  all  things  in  heaven  and  on  earth  shall  have  as- 
sumed their  permanent  and  unchangeable  relation  to 
Christ;  when  His  foes  shall  have  been  finally  vanquished 
and  His  friends  perfectly  purified;  when  heaven  and 
earth,  when  angels  and  men,  shall  bow  the  knee,  with 


40  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

either  the  love  of  followers  or  with  the  sullen  surrender 
of  beaten  enemies,  and  confess  that  He  is  Lord  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father.  And  then,  we  are  told,  when 
all  things  are  subdued  under  Him,  shall  the  Son  also 
Himself  be  subject  unto  Him  that  put  all  things  under 
1  lim,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all.  You  call  this  specu- 
lation :  but  it  is  simply  the  repetition  of  the  statements 
of  God's  Word;  and  from  them  may  we  gain  the  idea 
that  as  on  earth  we  have  discovered  Christ  to  be  the 
sum  and  substance  of  God's  thought  revealed  to  us, 
so  will  the  future  prove  that  He  is  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance likewise  of  all  that  God  has  thought  concern- 
ing all  creation ;  and  that  in  a  sense  of  which  we  now 
can  see  but  dimly  the  grandeur,  He  will  be  found  to 
be  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the 
end,  the  first  and  the  last. 

What  a  character,  then,  Christ  is  !  How  miserably 
base  appears  neglect  of  Him  !  How  grand  is  faith, 
which  opens  to  our  poor  minds  and  hearts  this  Word 
of  God!  For  I  ask  if  it  does  not  follow  from  what 
I  have  said  that  Christ  ought  to  be  the  Alpha  and 
Omega  of  our  thoughts,  even  as  He  is  of  God's. 
Ought  He  not  to  be  to  us  everything?  Ought  not  our 
lives  to  centre  in  Him  ;  our  opinions  to  bow  to  Him  ? 
Ought  it  not  to  be  our  hope  to  have  Christ  in  us ; 
our  reward,  to  share  His  glory  ?  If  He  be  the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega  of  Scripture,  of  man's  life  on  earth, 
aye,  of  all  life  of  all  created  beings,  then,  truly,  words 


THE   ALPHA   A  XL)    OMEGA  4 1 

are  too  weak  to  express  the  absolute  faith  which  we 
should  be  glad  to  render.  For  what,  perhaps,  is  most 
affecting  in  Christ's  character  is  that  He  will  deign  to 
be  to  each  of  us  all  that  He  is  to  the  greatest;  that 
He  will  be  glad  to  fill  our  lives  and  hearts  with  His 
majestic  but  gracious  presence ;  that  He  desires  to  be 
to  you  and  to  me  the  Friend  that  sticketh  closer  than 
a  brother. 

My  hearers,  this  is  the  question  of  questions :  What 
is  Christ  to  you  ?  This,  the  question  which  decides 
all  destinies ;  the  question  on  which  eternity  hinges. 
This  is  the  question  the  answer  to  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  will  part  good  from  the  bad  for  all  eternity. 
What  is  Christ  to  you  ?  Can  you  say  that  for  you  to 
live  is  Christ  ?  Is  He  to  you  the  Alpha  and  the 
Omega,  the  One  for  whom  you  live,  in  whom  you  live ; 
the  One  who  is  first  in  your  heart  and  in  your  real 
service?  He  must  be!  He  must  be!  or  your  thought 
will  not  be  God's  thought.  Hereafter  you  will  submit, 
but  without  reward.  Submit  to  Him  now !  Behold 
His  peerless  worth!  Make  Him  your  Lord  and  King! 
And  you  will  join  hereafter  with  the  host  who  give 
blessing  and  honor  and  dominion  unto  Him  who 
sitteth  on  the  throne  and  unto  the  Lamb  forever. 
You  will  behold  the  King  in  His  beauty,  and  you 
will  say  that  the  half  has  never  been  told  you  of  His 
worth  and  goodness  who  is,  in  Himself,  the  revelation 
of  God. 


Ill 

WHAT   THINK    YE   OF   CHRIST? 
"  What  think  ye  of  Christ  ?" — Matt.  xxii.  42. 

This  was  one  of  several  occasions  on  which  Jesus 
confuted  His  Pharisaic  opponents  by  a  question  ; 
and  in  this  instance  He  not  only  silenced  them,  but 
made  them  appear  ridiculous  as  well.  If  there  was 
one  question  which  they  ought  to  have  been  able  to 
answer  satisfactorily,  it  was  this,  "  What  think  ye 
concerning  the  Christ?"  Were  they  not  Jews?  Were 
they  not  doctors  of  the  law  ?  Were  they  not  pro- 
fessed expounders  of  the  Scriptures  ?  And  was  not 
the  Christ  the  main  object  of  Hebrew  hope ;  and  the 
doctrine  of  the  Christ  the  central  doctrine  of  the  Old 
Testament  ?  One  would  suppose  that  no  new  infor- 
mation could  have  been  given  them  on  the  inspired 
teaching  of  their  own  Scriptures  concerning  this  main 
article  of  their  faith.  Yet  they  were  silenced  by  this 
question,  "  What  think  ye  of  the  Christ  ?  whose  Son 
is  He  ?  For  David  in  Spirit  calleth  Him  Lord  :  how 
is  He  then  His  Son?" 

We  answer  at  once  that  He  was  foretold  in  the  Old 

Testament,  just  as   He   is  represented  in  the  New,  as 

both  David's  Lord  and  David's  Son  ;  "  born  of  the  seed 

43 


44  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

of  David  according  to  the  flesh  and  declared  to  be  the 
Son  of  God  with  power  by  the  resurrection  of  the  dead." 
But  if  the  Messiah  was  to  be  divine,  why  should  the 
Jews  upbraid  Jesus — since  He  claimed  to  be  Messiah — 
for  asserting  His  divinity  ?  Their  silence,  therefore, 
proved  either  that  they  were  not  sincere  in  their 
opposition  to  His  doctrine,  and  were  governed  simply 
by  unconquerable  hatred  of  His  person ;  or  else  that 
they  did  not  understand  their  own  Scriptures.  If  the 
latter,  they  appeared  in  a  ridiculous  light.  If  the 
former,  their  true  spirit  was  unmasked,  and  their 
opposition  to  Jesus  was  reduced  to  simple  wickedness 
and  selfishness. 

The  whole  theory,  in  short,  upon  which  they  were 
acting  was  shown  to  be  unfounded  and  insincere  by 
this  searching,  yet  simple,  question.  And  we  have 
only  to  change  a  little  our  point  of  view  in  order 
to  make  the  same  question  equally  pertinent  now. 
Any  theory  upon  which  a  man  pretends  to  govern 
his  conduct  must  account  for  all  the  important  facts 
or  else  be  confuted  by  them.  When  a  scientific  man, 
for  example,  propounds  a  theory  in  explanation  of 
any  of  the  phenomena  of  nature,  if  you  can  put 
your  finger  on  one  fact  pertaining  to  the  subject  in 
hand  and  show  that  his  theory  does  not  agree  with 
that  fact,  you  have  so  far  proved  the  insufficiency  of 
the  theory.  If  a  lawyer  be  making  out  his  theory  of 
the    case    which   he   is    defending,   his    opponent    will 


WHAT   THINK    YE    OF  CHRIST  45 

be  likely  to  make  short  work  of  it  if  he  can  point  out 
one  important  fact  which  the  advocate's  theory  does 
not  explain.  Precisely  so  is  it  with  men's  theories 
of  life  and  duty.  Jesus  Christ  is,  confessedly,  the 
central  figure  of  the  world's  moral  history.  He  has 
to  be  taken,  therefore,  into  the  account ;  He  cannot 
be  left  out.  And  every  theory  of  life,  whether  merely 
moral  or  distinctly  religious,  must  be  prepared  to 
answer  the  old  question  by  which  the  Jewish  rulers 
were  silenced,  "What,  then,  think  ye  of  the  Christ?" 
A  good  many  of  our  modern,  popular  teachers  simply 
leave  Him  alone.  They  have  nothing  to  say  of  Him 
at  all.  But  they  cannot  fairly  do  this  :  and  I  fancy 
that  it  would  bring  not  a  few  back  to  their  senses, 
and  would  hold  up  to  ridicule  not  a  few  theories  by 
which  paper  is  wasted  and  lives  are  ruined,  if  men 
were  compelled  to  give  their  serious  answer  to  this 
question. 

I  desire,  then,  to  put  the  question  to  you  at  once, 
especially  in  its  bearing  on  the  common  ideas  of  our 
day ;  and,  first,  I  will  try  to  show  the  importance  of 
the  question  ;  yea,  the  absolute  necessity  under  which 
men  are  of  being  able  to  give  a  plain  and  direct 
answer  to  it. 

In  order  to  this,  observe,  on  the  one  hand,  that 
Christ  is  the  kernel  of  Christianity — its  living  centre ; 
its  radical  principle;   its  creative  thought. 

He  is  obviously  the  kernel  of  the  Bible.     Abstract 


46  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

Him  from  it,  and  it  remains  a  mere  shell.  Take 
Him  from  it  and  you  take  away  its  central  thought — 
the  idea  about  and  upon  which  all  its  parts  are  built. 
He  is  the  soul  of  the  Bible.  Hebrew  history,  of  which 
the  Old  Testament  gives  the  record,  narrates  God's 
preparation  of  His  Church  for  the  coming  of  Christ — 
her  intellectual  preparation,  to  understand  Him ;  her 
moral  preparation,  to  follow  Him.  The  New  Testa- 
ment describes  His  advent  and  life,  what  the  apostles 
taught  about  Him,  and  man's  duties  in  view  of  His 
advent.  The  Bible  is  not  primarily  the  revelation  of 
God  as  He  is  in  Himself,  although  it  reveals  Him 
to  us.  It  is  not  primarily  the  history  of  man's 
religious  progress,  although  it  discloses  this  also. 
It  is  not  primarily  a  book  of  morals,  although  it 
teaches  the  highest  morality.  It  is  not  a  philosophy, 
although  it  involves  a  philosophy.  The  Bible,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  centres  in  Christ.  It  is  the  reve- 
lation of  God  in  Christ,  of  man's  salvation  through 
Christ,  of  morality  as  exemplified  and  taught  by 
Christ,  and  of  philosophy  as  implied  in   Christ. 

I  need  not  dwell  on  this  familiar  fact.  You  might  as 
well  take  Hamlet  out  of  Shakespeare's  play,  or  Caesar 
out  of  Roman  history,  or  the  sun  out  of  the  solar  system, 
as  Christ  out  of  the  Bible.  Now,  let  us  remember  that 
the  Bible  was  written  at  intervals  through  a  period 
of  fifteen  hundred  years  ;  that  it  is  the  literary  monu- 
ment of  a  long    movement  which  has  affected  more 


WHAT  THINK   YE    OF  CHRIST  47 

profoundly  than  has  any  other  movement  the  life 
of  humanity.  Let  us  add  the  remembrance  that  the 
Bible,  as  a  whole  and  when  gathered  in  a  single 
volume,  has  been  the  religious  teacher  of  the  most 
civilized  and  progressive  and  practically  religious  por- 
tions of  the  race.  Must  we  not  admit  at  least  the  su- 
preme importance  of  the  question,  which  takes  us  to 
the  root-thought  from  which  all  this  has  sprung,  and 
feel  that  no  intelligent  man  ought  to  be  without  his 
answer  to  the  query,  "What  think  ye  of  Christ?" 

But,  furthermore,  Christ  is  not  only  the  kernel  of 
the  book  which  we  call  the  Bible,  but  He  is  the 
kernel  also  of  that  system  of  belief  which  constitutes 
the  Christian  creed.  The  Christian  creed  is  not  a 
number  of  independent  articles  of  belief  tied  together 
by  the  Church,  like  a  bundle  of  sticks  tied  together  by 
a  string.  It  is  a  system  of  belief  in  which  every  part 
grows  out  of  one  central  truth,  as  the  branches  of  a 
tree  grow  out  of  the  trunk.  It  is  a  fact  of  history  that 
the  definite  statement  by  the  Church  of  this  system 
grew  out  of  the  questions  concerning  its  belief  in  Jesus 
Christ  and  the  logical  inferences  drawn  from  it ;  and 
the  historian  can  trace  the  progress  of  the  Church's 
apprehension  of  what  is  taught  in  the  Bible  along  the 
line  of  its  faith  in  its  great  Founder.  The  consequence 
is  that  if  a  man  tell  you  what  he  thinks  of  Christ,  you 
can  tell  pretty  clearly  what  he  thinks  about  all  the 
other  principal  points  of  Christianity. 


43  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

If,  for  example,  he  tell  you  that  he  thinks  Christ  was 
a  mere  man,  good  but  not  divine,  a  teacher  but  not  a 
Saviour  (in  the  sense  in  which  we  call  Him  such),  then 
you  can  infer  at  once  that  the  speaker  does  not  believe 
in  the  Trinity,  nor  in  the  fall  of  man,  nor  in  the  Atone- 
ment, nor  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  nor  in  regenera- 
tion, nor  probably  in  the  doctrine  of  future  punishment. 
If  Christ  be  not  divine,  then,  of  course,  there  is  no  Trin- 
ity. If  Christ  be  not  divine,  then,  of  course,  His  death 
was  not  an  atonement  for  human  guilt.  If  no  atone- 
ment for  guilt  be  necessary,  then,  of  course,  man  is  not 
lost,  nor  does  he  need  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  order  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  God,  nor  is  it  likely 
that  he  will  be  punished  for  his  sins  in  the  future 
world.  If,  finally,  Christ  be  a  mere  man,  then  the 
Bible  can  scarcely  be  deemed  inspired  of  God,  at  least 
not  in  such  sense  as  to  be  an  infallible  teacher  of 
truth ;  for  manifestly  and,  in  our  day,  confessedly,  it 
teaches  that  before  His  birth  in  Bethlehem  He  was 
the  Son  of  God.  I  am  not  now  contending  for  the 
truth  of  these  doctrines.  I  am  simply  pointing 
out  their  connection  with  each  other,  and  trying  to 
show  that  the  Christian  creed  is  a  unit  and  not  a 
bundle  of  sticks,  and  that  the  whole  of  it  depends  on 
the  answer  which  we  give  to  the  question,  "  What 
think  ye  of  Christ  ?"  That  question  takes  us  to  the 
root  of  the  tree,  to  the  heart  of  the  creed. 

But  it  does  even  more  than  this.     It  takes  us  to  the 


WHAT  THINK   YE    OF  CHRIST  49 

kernel  of  the  Christian  life.  Of  course,  this  must  be  so 
if  the  creed  be  a  real  belief;  but  it  is  worth  noting 
separately.  The  distinctive  thing  which  makes  a  man 
experimentally  a  Christian  is  his  thought  about  Christ. 
It  is  not  his  belief  in  God  ;  for  a  man  may  believe  in  God 
and  yet  not  be  a  Christian.  It  is  not  his  belief  in  moral 
obligation ;  for  he  may  believe  in  the  whole  deca- 
logue and  yet  not  be  a  Christian.  It  is  not  his  belief 
in  the  Church ;  for  he  may  believe  in  the  Church  as 
an  institution,  and  may  serve  her  zealously,  and  yet 
not  be  a  Christian.  It  is  not  his  belief  in  the  Bible, 
apart  from  what  the  Bible  teaches  concerning  Christ. 
It  is  his  belief  in  Christ ;  and  this  not  merely  his  intel- 
lectual belief  about  Christ,  but  his  personal  acceptance 
of  Christ  and  trust  in  Him  as  a  Saviour. 

Paul  may  fairly  be  taken  as  an  example  of  what  a 
Christian  is,  and  he  said :  "  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the 
Son  of  God,  who  loved  me  and  gave  Himself  for  me." 
Observe  that  his  faith  was  in  Christ,  in  Christ  as  the 
Son  of  God,  in  Christ  as  his  Saviour,  in  Christ  as  his 
personal  Saviour ;  and  that  this  was  not  a  mere  intel- 
lectual conviction,  but  a  practical  life.  "  I  live  by  the 
faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me  and  gave  Him- 
self for  me."  So  is  it  still.  To  be  a  Christian,  you 
do  not  have  to  begin  by  accepting,  still  less  by  under- 
standing, all  the  articles  of  the  creed.  You  do  not 
become   a   Christian  by  uniting  with  the  Church,  nor 

by  reforming  your  bad  habits.    You  become  a  Christian 
4 


50  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

by  accepting  Christ  with  your  mind  and  your  heart; 
and  all  the  new  world  of  light  which  opens  about  a 
new  convert  is  caused  by  the  new  thoughts  which  he 
has  concerning  his  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

Thus  Christ  is  the  kernel  of  Christianity,  histor- 
ically and  experimentally,  in  theology  and  in  daily 
life.  But  more  than  this,  He  is  the  great,  and 
absolutely  the  best  test  of  a  man's  moral  character. 
This  is  the  second  fact  which  shows  the  importance 
of  the  question  given  in  the  text. 

What  we  mean  by  it  may  be  made  to  appear  more 
clearly  by  the  aid  of  some  illustrations.  Suppose 
an  instructor,  desiring  to  test  the  real  degree  of 
education  to  which  a  pupil  has  attained.  He  cannot 
do  better  than  to  take  some  particular  author,  for 
example,  and  ask  the  pupil's  opinion  of  him.  What 
does  he  think  of  Wordsworth's  Ode  ?  The  reply 
will  show  the  degree  of  knowledge  and  the  kind  of 
taste  possessed  by  the  pupil.  Or  if  we  may  take  an 
illustration  from  the  political  field,  we  should  say 
that  you  cannot  test  an  Englishman's  political  senti- 
ments more  accurately  than  by  asking,  What  does 
he  think  of  Gladstone  ?  or  a  German's,  than  by  ask- 
ing, What  does  he  think  of  Bismarck  ?  The  reply 
will  reveal  at  once  his  political  sympathies.  So  if  you 
hold  a  magnet  amongst  a  pile  of  mixed  iron  and 
wooden  particles,  the  iron  will  cling  to  the  magnet 
and  the  wood  will  remain  unmoved.     Thus  you  dis- 


WHAT   THINK    YE    OF  CHRIST  5  I 

cover  not  only  the  power  of  the  magnet,  but  also  the 
character  of  the  materials  amongst  which  it  is  held. 

In  a  similar  way  Christ  tests  men's  moral  character. 
The  question,  What  think  you  of  Christ  ?  shows  what 
sort  of  man  you  are.  Not,  of  course,  if  we  only  mean 
what  your  public  profession  is  or  your  theoretical 
notions  are;  but  certainly  if  we  mean  what  is  your  real 
thought,  your  inner  attitude  of  mind.  All  that  really 
sympathizes  with  goodness  must  sympathize  with  Him 
when  He  is  fairly  beheld.  All  that  hates  holiness 
must  hate  Christ  too.  He  said  to  Pilate,  "  Every  one 
that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my  voice."  And  it  is 
even  so.  The  worst  comment  that  can  be  made  upon 
a  man  is  that  he  rejects  or  dislikes  Jesus  Christ.  It 
is  his  self-condemnation.  If  you  were  to  separate 
every  act  of  a  man's  life  and  every  movement  of  his 
mind,  and  exactly  weigh  and  measure  each  in  the 
scale  of  an  infallible  divine  judgment,  and  were  to  sum 
up  the  results  with  the  accuracy  of  omniscience  itself, 
you  could  not  more  certainly  decide  the  moral  worth 
of  a  character  than  you  could  by  obtaining  its  sincere 
answer  to  this  question,  What  think  you  of  Christ? 
That  would  tell  all  the  story  at  once.  And  that  is  a 
question  which  every  one  of  us  may  ask  himself 
and  so  at  once  learn  his  condition  in  the  sight  of 
Almighty  God. 

We  have,  therefore,  this  one  question  to  ask  of  all 
theories  on    which   men    are    living.      We    ask    it  of 


52  FAITH  AXD  LIFE 

science.  We  certainly  have  no  quarrel  with  science, 
but  glory  in  her  advancement.  Rut  when  .some  man 
in  the  name  of  science  produces  a  theory  which  he 
asserts  will  furnish  the  only  true  philosophy  of  life, 
then  we  ask,  Well,  on  your  theory,  what  think  you 
of  Christ?  And  if  he  replies  that  his  theory  compels 
him  to  answer  that  Christ  was  a  mistaken  or  even 
merely  an  upright  man,  we  reply  that  his  theory 
cannot  be  true ;  that  the  testimony  to  what  Christ 
really  was  is  too  strong  to  be  doubted,  and  that 
whatsoever  conflicts  with  it  is  thereby  disproved.  We 
ask  the  same  question  of  the  moralist.  You  say  it 
is  only  necessary  to  keep  the  decalogue,  to  be  just  and 
kind,  in  order  to  be  saved.  Well,  what  think  you  of 
Christ  ?  Your  theory  does  not  fit  Him.  He  does  not 
fit  into  it.  He  manifestly  believed  differently,  and  lived 
as  He  believed  ;  and  yet  He  is  without  controversy 
the  model  of  manhood.  This  question  tears  moralism 
up  by  the  roots.  In  the  face  of  Christ's  life  it  cannot 
be  the  right  theory  of  living.  So  we  might  go  on.  I 
do  not  believe  that  there  is  one  here  who  can  put  the 
question  honestly  to  himself  without  feeling  that  it 
touches  the  very  foundation  of  his  character;  that  it 
discloses  to  him  infallibly  his  real  condition  ;  that  it 
either  gives  him  reason  for  terror  before  God  or  reason 
for  joy  and  hope,  so  that,  as  with  the  Pharisees,  his 
whole  life  is  sifted  thoroughly  when  I  ask  him,  "  What 
think  you  of  Christ?" 


WHAT  THINK   YE    OF  CHRIST  53 

What  answer,  then,  should  we  ourselves  give  to  this 
question  ?  Let  me  suggest  in  turn  some  of  the  answers 
which  might  be  made  in  such  an  audience  as  this, 
and  let  us  judge  of  the  sufficiency  of  these  replies  in 
the  light  of  the  importance  of  the  question  as  we  have 
already  learned  it. 

Perhaps  even  here  there  are  some  who  would 
reply  only  doubtfully,  We  think  Him  an  interesting 
historical  character.  This  is  the  response  often  made 
by  the  merely  literary  student.  Without  in  any  way 
accepting  Jesus  as  a  Saviour,  or  even  professing  to 
belong  to  His  religion,  such  a  one  is  unable  to  with- 
hold from  Him  a  certain  degree  of  intellectual  homage. 
He  sees  the  force  of  what  we  have  advanced  con- 
cerning Christ's  place  in  history,  in  the  Bible,  and  in 
Christianity.  He  admits  that  such  a  character  cannot 
be  passed  by  with  neglect.  Intellectual  curiosity 
itself  stimulates  him  to  examine  the  real  facts  of  such 
a  life.  It  is  a  response  also  caught  up  by  others  who 
have  little  or  no  intelligent  idea  of  what  Jesus  taught 
and  did,  but  who  hear  so  much  about  Him  that 
they  feel  forced  to  regard  Him  as  a  remarkable  per- 
sonage. There  is  nothing  easier  than  to  substitute  a 
well-framed  eulogy  of  some  minor  quality  of  Christ 
for  the  sincere  confession  of  His  greater  claim,  and 
with  this  substitute  to  rest  content. 

It  is  not  unfrequent  to  find  men  who  wholly  deny 
His  divinity  and   His  original  teaching,  loud  in  a  pa- 


54  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

tronizing  praise  of  His  humanity  and  His  liberal  views. 
They  can  hardly  avoid  so  much.  The  evident  nobility 
of  character  revealed  in  the  story  of  Jesus  compels  this 
much  of  interest  in  Him.  He  evidently  was  a  man  who 
rose  far  above  selfishness  and  worldliness  ;  a  man  who, 
although  belonging  to  a  narrow  race,  had  broad  views  ; 
a  man,  also,  who  with  marvelous  purity  taught  others 
to  worship  God.  He  certainly  effected  a  great  change 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  Though  His  life  was 
that  of  a  wandering  Jewish  teacher  and  His  death  the 
shameful  death  of  the  cross,  yet  His  name  in  a  few 
years  was  written  on  the  grave  of  the  old  pagan  world 
and  on  the  standards  of  the  Empire.  The  enthusiasm 
which  He  evoked  and  evokes  still, — the  multitudes 
who  find  in  Him  their  inspiration  to  all  that  is  good 
and  pure, — His  own  gentleness  and  sympathy,  com- 
bined with  stern  self-consecration  and  unflinching 
obedience  to  duty,— all  these  and  a  hundred  other 
facts  mark  Him  out  from  among  the  characters  of 
history  as  the  most  wonderful  and  interesting  of 
them  all. 

Renan  closes  his  ridiculous  and  blasphemous  life 
of  Jesus,  in  which  he  has  sought  to  reduce  the  story 
to  the  level  of  a  romantic  novel,  with  these  admiring 
words :  "  Whatever  be  the  surprises  of  the  future, 
Jesus  will  never  be  surpassed  ;  His  worship  will  grow 
young  without  ceasing;  His  legend  will  call  forth 
tears  without  end;   His  sufferings  will  melt  the  noblest 


WHAT  THINK'   YE    OF  CHRIST  55 

hearts ;  all  ages  will  proclaim  that  among  the  sons  of 
men  there  is  none  born  greater  than  Jesus." 

Do  you  think  in  this  way  of  Christ  ?  But  what 
does  it  all  amount  to?  What  change  do  these 
thoughts  make  in  your  life?  What  relation  do  you 
sustain  to  this  remarkable  character  of  history  ?  Does 
your  admiration  make  you  any  more  like  Him  ?  Does 
it  make  you  live  any  nearer  to  God  ?  Does  it  lead 
you  to  help  on  the  cause  of  Jesus  Christ?  If  not, 
what  is  it  worth  ?  We  answer,  Nothing, — except  to 
convict  you  of  inconsistency, — to  condemn  you  out 
of  your  own  mouth.  Here  you  stand  before  the  most 
remarkable  character  of  history, — before  the  grandest 
moral  movement  of  all  time, — before  Him  who  in 
some  way  moves  more  hearts  Godward  than  any 
other, — and  you  dare  to  take  the  position  of  an  indif- 
ferent critic  and  to  say  complacently,  Truly,  this  is  a 
very  interesting  spectacle !  Is  that  a  position  for  a 
reasonable  man  to  take  ?  You  would  better  not  allow 
this  interesting  spectacle  to  depart  from  you  until  you 
have  found  out  what  it  means  for  you. 

But  another  will  perhaps  say  in  answer  to  our 
question  :  "  I  think  Christ  a  remarkable  religious 
teacher,  probably  the  best  religious  teacher  who  has 
ever  lived,  but  I  do  not  believe  that  He  has  been 
correctly  represented  by  the  Church, — I  do  not  believe 
that  the  New  Testament  correctly  represents  Him. 
My  idea  is   that   He  was  a  simple  Jewish  peasant,  of 


56  FAITH  AiXD  LIFE 

unusual  religious  insight,  who  had  a  real  genius  for 
moral  teaching,  who  loved  God  and  man  with  a  super- 
eminent  love,  and  whose  substantial  doctrine  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  Golden  Rule  and  in  the  summary  of 
duty,  '  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and 
with  all  thy  strength,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.'  I 
think  that  He  was  led  unwisely  to  play  the  role  of  a 
Messiah,  while  yet  He  was  in  a  true  sense  the  Messiah, 
because  He  taught  true  doctrine.  He  was  put  to 
death  by  the  Jewish  rulers  from  jealousy  of  His  popu- 
larity ;  but  His  disciples  afterwards,  having  been  per- 
suaded that  He  had  risen  from  the  dead,  began  to 
deify  Him,  and  attributed  to  Him  gradually  all  that  the 
New  Testament  teaches  and  the  Church  holds  con- 
cerning Him.  I  think  that  His  moral  and  spiritual 
teaching  should  be  lovingly  followed.  I  think  it 
wonderful  that  He  should  have  taught  so  purely  and 
so  nobly.  I  think  that  all  later  notions  should  be  laid 
aside,  and  that  we  should  learn  from  Jesus  the  love  of 
God  and  the  love  of  man,  and  should  try  to  live  as 
simply  and  as  beautifully  as  He  seems  to  have  done." 
Do  you  think  in  this  way  of  Christ  ?  Let  me  point 
out  a  difficulty  in  your  thought.  It  is  tin's.  What 
do  you  know  about  Jesus  and  His  teaching  except 
as  it  is  reported  in  the  New  Testament  ?  People  say, 
We  will  listen  to  Jesus  but  we  will  not  listen  to  His 
disciples.     I  answer,    How    can    you    listen    to  Jesus 


WHAT   THINK    YE    OF  CHRIST  57 

except  as  you  listen  to  the  reports  made  by  His  dis- 
ciples ?  Who  wrote  these  gospels  ?  Matthew,  John — 
apostles :  Mark,  Luke — companions  and  friends  of 
apostles,  who  gave  their  apostolic  testimony.  What 
else  do  you  know  about  Jesus  ?  Have  you  some 
independent  means  of  information  ?  Have  you  dis- 
covered some  lost  manuscript  containing  another 
account  ?  You  know  nothing  about  Him  except  as 
you  believe  the  apostles.  But  if  they  are  untrust- 
worthy in  one  respect,  why  not  in  another  ?  If  they 
put  into  His  mouth  words  which  He  did  not  utter, 
how  can  you  receive  any  of  them  ?  No,  you  must  take 
all  or  none.  You  cannot  pick  and  choose.  You  can- 
not distinguish  between  the  veracity  of  Jesus  and  the 
veracity  of  His  apostles. 

"  Yes,  but  I  can,"  you  say.  "  I  will  take  this 
Gospel  story  and  I  will  expunge  from  it  everything 
miraculous  and  supernatural  and  I  will  accept 
what  is  left.  I  cannot  believe  in  miracles.  I  admit 
that  there  must  have  been  some  foundation  for  what 
the  Gospels  record,  but  I  think  it  more  natural  to 
suppose  that  Jesus  was  such  a  man  as  I  have  de- 
scribed and  that  the  disciples  added  the  miraculous  and 
supernatural  element  to  the  story."  But  is  not  this  a 
very  arbitrary  position  to  take  up?  Do  you  really 
think  it  fair  to  assume  that  no  miracle  ever  took  place 
no  matter  what  evidence  for  it  is  provided  ?  Does  it 
not  seem  evident  to  you  that  if  God  did  send  His  Son 


58  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

into  the  world,  some  miraculous  signs  would  be  likely 
to  occur  ?  Do  you  really  know  so  much  about  the 
laws  of  the  natural  world  as  to  be  prepared  to  affirm, 
"  I  will  never  believe  in  miracles"?  And,  furthermore, 
how  can  you  account  for  the  fact  that  almost  immedi- 
ately after  the  death  of  Jesus,  when  His  disciples 
began  to  preach  to  the  people,  they  laid  stress  not 
only  upon  His  moral  teachings,  but  on  His  miracles 
and  the  supernatural  side  of  His  life?  Read  Peter's 
speech  at  Pentecost.  Read  the  other  speeches  re- 
corded in  the  Acts.  Read  still  more  the  early  Epistles 
of  Paul.  In  them  you  will  find  the  Church's  idea  of 
Christ  full  grown.  Now  it  requires  time  to  make 
myths  and  to  construct  legends.  In  ancient  nations 
mythology  was  the  growth  of  centuries.  But  in  this 
case  you  have  to  suppose  that  in  a  few  months  what 
you  dare  to  call  the  Christian  mythology  sprang  into 
being  in  the  minds  of  a  few  forlorn  Jews  who  were 
being  persecuted  for  teaching  it.  No,  you  cannot 
forcibly  separate  the  teaching  of  Christ  and  that  of 
His  apostles.  You  must  take  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels, 
or  have  no  Christ  at  all,  or  else  manufacture  one  out 
of  your  own  fancy  to  suit  yourself.  You  cannot  think 
thus  of  Christ.  You  must  take  Him  as  He  is  de- 
livered unto  you,  or  else  say,  We  will  not  think  of 
Him  at  all. 

How,  then,  should  we  think  of  Christ?     Can  we  do 
better  than   think  of  Him  as   His  own  apostles  did? 


WHAT  THINK   YE    OF  CHRIST  59 

Paul  wrote,  "  When  the  fullness  of  the  time  came, 
God  sent  forth  His  Son,  born  of  a  woman,  born  under 
the  law,  that  he  might  redeem  them  that  were  under 
the  law,  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons." 
"  In  Him  dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily."  "  He  is  our  peace  who  hath  made  both 
one — that  He  might  reconcile  both  unto  God,  in  one 
body  by  the  cross."  "  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling 
the  world  unto  Himself.  For  He  hath  made  Him  to  be 
sin  for  us  who  knew  no  sin, — that  we  might  be  made 
the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him."  Peter  confessed  at 
Caesarea  Philippi,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God."  "  To  whom  can  we  go  ?  Thou  hast 
the  words  of  eternal  life. "  And  in  his  First  Epistle 
he  quotes  the  language  of  Isaiah,  applying  it  to  Jesus, 
and  saying,  "  Christ  suffered  for  us,  leaving  us  an 
example."  Then  John  writes  in  his  Gospel  still  more 
explicitly,  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,"  "  and 
the  Word  was  God,"  "  and  the  Word  became  flesh." 
Standing  in  the  exile  of  Patmos,  the  same  apostle  de- 
clares that  he  beheld  the  Redeemer  on  whose  breast  he 
had  leaned,  clothed  in  indescribable  glory,  and  heard 
Him  say,  "  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and 
the  end.  I  am  He  that  liveth  and  was  dead,  and  behold 
I  am  alive  for  evermore." 

They  thought  thus  of  Christ,  and  so  should  we  think 
of  Him.  This  was  the  truth  on  which  Christianity  was 
founded.     This  is  the  truth  by  which  it  lives  to-day. 


60  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

I  bring  it  to  you  not  as  a  new  doctrine  of  theology.  I 
bring  it  as  a  fact  of  history,  which  has  tremendous 
meaning  to  every  one  of  us.  It  means  that,  though  lost, 
the  way  of  redemption  is  open  to  us.  It  means  that 
God  has  descended  in  J  lis  Son  into  the  plain  of  life,  and 
with  Him  as  our  helper  we  may  live  forever  and  not 
die.  It  means  that  you  have  only  to  cast  yourself  by 
faith  upon  the  Mighty  One,  this  Christ  of  God,  and  be 
saved  even  to  the  uttermost.  It  means  that  no  sin  is 
greater  than  the  sin  of  rejecting  Christ.  It  means  that 
you  may  say  from  the  heart,  "  Rock  of  ages,  cleft 
for  me."  Victims  as  you  are  of  sore  temptation, 
trembling  as  you  do  on  the  verge  of  eternity,  immortal 
and  accountable  as  you  are,  here  is  your   Saviour. 

I  have  tried  to  show  you  the  importance  of  this 
question.  I  have  shown  that  this  is  the  kernel  of  the 
Bible,  the  kernel  of  Christianity,  and  the  test  of  char- 
acter;  and  if  Christ  be  what  the  apostles  declared,  you 
can  well  understand  why  He  is  the  central  theme  and 
thought  of  all  the  ages.  So  I  ask  you  personally, 
What  think  you  of  Christ?  I  would  press  home  the 
question.  It  is  like  a  surgeon's  knife,  which  cuts 
deeply  and  skillfully.  It  is  God's  home-thrust.  You 
cannot  parry  it.  You  must  answer  it,  if  not  now, 
then  at  the  judgment  day.  What  think  you  of  Christ  ? 
You  men,  busy  with  your  professions  and  your  trades 
— you  women,  in  the  home  circle  and  in  social  pleas- 
ures— you  bitter  doubters  and  you  sufferers  from  pain 


WHAT  THINK   YE    OF  CHRIST  6 1 

and  death — you  all  who  need  so  sorely  to  have  heaven 
brought  into  your  lives  now,  that  when  your  lives  are 
ended  you  may  enter  heaven — what  think  ye  of 
Christ?  Think  of  His  peerless  character,  think  of 
His  tender  sympathy,  think  of  His  anguish  on  the 
cross,  think  of  His  resurrection  and  His  glory  now ! 
He  is  your  God-sent  Saviour,  and  will  you  not  accept 
Him  ?  You  need  naught  but  Him.  You  are  com- 
plete in  Him.  Will  you  not  give  Him  your  hearts 
and  your  service?  Think  much  of  Him.  Take  Him 
for  your  friend.  Confess  Him  and  work  for  Him,  and 
He  will  confess  you.  What  one  of  you  to-night  will 
say,  as  you  think  of  Christ,  He  is  my  Saviour,  my 
Lord  and  my  God  ? 


IV 

TOUCHING   CHRIST 

"And  they  besought  Him  that  they  might  only  touch  the  hem  of 
His  garment:  and  as  many  as  touched  were  made  perfectly  whole." — 
Matt.  xiv.  36. 

What  an  inspiring  scene  this  was !  For  the  moment 
we  see  the  man  of  Nazareth  at  the  height  of  popular- 
ity, traversing  His  native  land  like  a  conqueror,  while 
from  all  the  adjacent  district  throngs  of  enthusiastic 
people  gather  to  welcome  Him  and  implore  His 
blessing.  He  had  just  astonished  the  multitude  by 
feeding  five  thousand  men  from  a  few  loaves  and 
fishes  ;  and  we  know  that  that  miracle  produced  such 
an  impression  that  some  were  for  taking  Jesus  by  force 
and  making  Him  king.  The  power  of  the  hostile 
rulers  was  now  at  the  minimum  and  Christ's  at  its 
maximum,  and  it  would  not  have  been  hard,  had  He 
wished  to  do  so,  for  the  Saviour  to  have  swept  Galilee 
and  Judea  by  a  wave  of  patriotism,  and  have  placed 
Himself,  as  the  Maccabees  had  done,  at  the  head  of 
the  nation. 

And  now,  after  that  famous  miracle,  and  after 
He  had  still  further  amazed  His  own  disciples  by 
walking  to  them  on  the  stormy  waves,  He  landed  the 

63 


64  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

next  morning  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee  and  began  to  journey  rapidly  through  fields 
and  villages  toward  the  city  of  Capernaum.  As  He 
advanced  the  throngs  of  attendants  increased  until  His 
march  became  a  veritable  triumph.  They  seem  to 
have  hastened  to  avail  themselves  at  once  and  in  every 
possible  way  of  His  unlimited  power.  They  brought 
their  sick  friends  and  laid  them  by  the  side  of  the  road 
along  which  Jesus  was  coming.  At  every  village  a 
new  crowd  awaited  Him.  At  every  cross-road,  on  the 
banks  and  in  the  fields  by  the  way,  there  stood  little 
companies  around  some  victim  of  disease  ready  to 
thrust  the  patient  on  the  notice  of  Jesus.  Yonder  we 
see  one  sick  of  the  palsy  borne  by  friends,  or  reaching 
a  trembling  arm  in  supplication  for  relief;  yonder,  too, 
another  coming  from  a  fever-bed ;  there,  one  possessed, 
chained,  perhaps,  and  led  unwillingly  to  Him  at  whose 
word  even  devils  trembled  and  obeyed ;  and  again  the 
leper,  at  a  distance  from  the  road,  seeking  to  conceal 
himself  from  the  people  but  to  show  himself  to  the 
Christ,  and  raising  his  shrill  voice  in  prayer  for  pity. 
And  to  all  the  desired  help  comes.  As  many  as 
touched  Him  were  made  perfectly  whole,  and  many, 
too,  we  doubt  not,  who  could  not  touch  Him  save  by 
the  hand  of  faith. 

The  scene,  I  say,  is  one  to  rouse  our  own  enthusi- 
asm, as  it  did  that  of  the  people.  It  was  as  truly  a 
triumphal  march  as  that  which  afterward  Christ  made 


TOUCHING    CHRIST  65 

over  Olivet  into  Jerusalem,  The  word  "  triumph  "  is 
the  only  one  which  is  worthy  to  be  given  it,  but  it 
significantly  contrasts  with  such  triumphs  as  those 
with  which  the  world  has  honored  its  illustrious  men. 
What  a  contrast,  for  example,  between  these  journeys  of 
Jesus  and  a  Roman  triumph  !  We  picture  the  great 
capital  dressed  in  its  holiday  garments  ;  the  peasants  of 
Italy  thronging  with  the  citizens  the  narrow  streets ; 
the  whole  populace  abandoning  itself  to  joy  and  often 
license.  We  picture  the  triumphal  procession  :  golden 
chariots  drawn  by  white  horses ;  garlands  of  flowers 
scattered  in  profusion  under  the  wheels  of  the  hero's 
car ;  the  bronzed  legions  who  survive  from  the  long 
and  fierce  war  ;  and  in  the  centre  of  all,  the  proud  com- 
mander who  has  made  barbarians  tremble  at  the  name 
of  Rome,  and  who  now  haughtily  condescends  to 
receive  the  gratitude  of  his  fellow-citizens.  But  as 
the  procession  wends  its  way  up  the  Capitoline  hill 
that  the  Caesar  may  offer  his  sacrifice  to  the  god,  we 
note  amid  his  train  the  slaves  torn  from  distant  homes 
to  become  his  chattels ;  we  note  the  scars  borne 
by  his  warriors  in  testimony  of  the  awful  perils  of 
battle;  we  think  of  others  left  dead  in  the  far  East 
or  on  the  bleak  shores  of  the  northern  sea ;  we  fear 
that  by  such  a  display  as  this  the  Csesar  is  riveting 
fetters  on  the  liberties  of  his  country  ;  and  we  conclude 
for  all  its  emblazoned  pomp  that  this  is  in  reality  the 
triumph  of  mere  passion,  ambition,  cruelty  and  crime. 


66  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

But  as  we  behold  the  triumph  of  Jesus,  how  different 
our  thought!  It  is  the  triumph  of  love,  it  is  the 
deliverance  of  the  captive ;  it  scatters  healing  bene- 
dictions on  its  way ;  it  is  the  proclamation  of  liberty 
from  God.  And  surely  we  must  feel  that  the  round 
globe  has  never  seen  so  grand  a  march  as  this  hasty 
walk  of  the  humble  Son  of  God  through  Galilee  to 
Capernaum.  This  surely  was  the  day  of  which  the 
prophet  wrote,  "  Arise,  shine;  for  thy  Light  is  come, 
and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon  thee." 

Now  I  wish,  of  course,  to  regard  this  scene  as  pic- 
turing a  spiritual  truth.  It  is  our  belief  that  Christ  is 
now  the  one  source  of  all  spiritual  blessings  to  man- 
kind ;  that  He  is  as  truly  present  among  men  now  as 
when  He  walked  the  roads  of  Galilee  ;  that  it  is  as 
possible  now  to  touch  Him  as  it  was  then  ;  and  that  we 
are  as  likely  to  receive  the  influence  of  His  power.  This 
is  the  central  fact  and  doctrine  of  Christianity.  Christ 
is  the  center  of  all  good;  and  the  one  need  of  human 
hearts,  in  their  weakness  and  sin,  is  to  be  brought  into 
personal,  loving  contact  with  this  Son  of  God  and  man. 
Hence  the  significance  for  all  time  of  such  a  scene 
as  this  ;  and  if  I  can  show  you  how  man  may  touch 
Christ,  and  where  Christ  is  to  be  found,  it  will  not 
be  in  vain  that  we  have  looked  upon  this  picture 
from   His  earthly   life. 

Let  us  note,  first,  the  spirit  and  temper  which  these 
people  displayed.      From   it  may  we  gather  what  is 


TOUCHING   CHRIST  67 

the  state  of  mind  in  which  we  may  hope  to  come, 
in  our  way,  likewise  into  personal  contact  with 
Jesus  Christ.  We  may  infer,  at  the  start,  that  the 
experience  of  Christ's  presence  depends  on  ourselves. 
He  is  always  here  and  everywhere ;  and,  therefore, 
the  reason  why  some  touch  and  are  blessed  by 
Him,  and  others  do  not,  is  because  of  the  difference 
in  the  state  of  mind  between  the  two  classes.  The 
spiritual  discovery  of  Christ  is  dependent  on  our  own 
hearts,  just  as  contact  with  truth  of  any  kind  de- 
pends on  us,  not  on  it.  He  is  always  ready  to  make 
Himself  known,  but  we  are  not  always  ready  to 
perceive  Him.  From  the  minds  of  these  Galilean 
peasants  we  may  learn  the  great  secret.  The  scene 
before  us  may  be  likened  to  a  revival  of  religion ; 
and  we  all  know  that  in  the  latter  we  discover  the 
tests  and  the  means  of  finding  God.  We  realize 
that  success  in  the  great  search  turns  on  what  we 
are ;  and  hence  the  first  thing  to  be  learned  is,  what 
must  there  be  in  our  hearts  to  open  the  way  to  the 
feet  of  Jesus. 

I  say,  "  in  our  hearts ;  "  for  we  should  find  that  to 
touch  Christ  really  is  far  more  the  work  of  the  heart 
than  of  the  intellect.  It  is  sometimes  imagined  that 
He  can  be  found  through  mere  investigation  and 
reason.  This  is  the  way  of  the  student.  He  follows 
the  path  of  history  back  to  the  spot  where  Christ 
is  met.     He  investigates  His  life ;  examines  the  con- 


68  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

ditions  of  His  age ;  seeks  to  sift  the  evidence  for  His 
reported  works  and  sayings  :  and  concludes  forth- 
with that  Jesus  either  is  or  is  not  what  His  followers 
assert.  Such  a  process  is  necessary,  and  should 
be  undertaken  by  all  who  can  undertake  it;  but 
be  it  remembered  that  it  is  not  personal  contact 
with  Christ.  The  investigation  may  result  in  the 
fullest  confession  of  Christ's  truth,  and  yet  the  in- 
vestigator may  not  have  touched  Him  in  any 
spiritual  sense.  With  his  intellectual  conviction  he 
may  turn  away  almost  as  little  helped  in  soul  by 
the  influence  of  Jesus  as  though  he  had  gazed  at  Him 
from  a  great  distance. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  sometimes  imagined  that 
the  soul  will  necessarily  touch  Christ  by  using  those 
introductory  appliances  of  religion  in  which  Christ's 
people  are  wont  to  express  their  love  and  faith.  I 
mean  the  ordinances  of  religion — the  word,  the 
Church,  the  sacraments,  prayer.  In  all  of  these,  as 
I  shall  show  directly,  Christ  is  to  be  found ;  but  not 
necessarily,  and  never  if  we  use  them  in  the  wrong 
way.  Again,  therefore,  we  are  thrown  back  on  our 
own  hearts,  as  that  on  which  the  touching  of  Christ 
depends.  They  are  the  eyes,  with  which  we  see,  and 
the  ears,  with  which  we  hear.  They  are  the  fingers, 
with  which  we  reach  forward.  If  a  man  would  find 
the  benefit  of  Christ,  would  feel  Christ's  influence  for 
good,  he  must,  first  of  all,  see  that  his  own  heart  is 


TOUCHING    CHRIST  69 

in  such  a  state  as,  from  our  text,  we  learn  that  the 
hearts  of  these  Galilean  peasants  were.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  individual  spiritual  life. 

When  we  consider  them,  we  find  that  the  condi- 
tions of  the  soul's  touching  Christ  are  very  simple, 
and  consist  of  but  two  things  :  on  the  one  hand,  a 
real,  earnest,  honest  desire  for  Christ's  gift,  and,  on 
the  other,  implicit  confidence  that  He  can  and  will 
give  it.  Desire  and  trust :  that  is  all  the  secret. 
Real  want  and  simple  trust.  What  easier  than 
these,  one  would  think !  And  yet  how  they  probe 
into  and  reprove  our  common  ways  of  seeking  Him  ! 

For  the  desire  which  succeeds  in  finding  Christ  is 
no  languid,  half-hearted  wish,  but  real  spiritual  long- 
ing. Look  again  at  the  scene  pictured  in  the  text. 
Those  people  clearly  knew  what  they  wanted.  They 
had  certain  specific  ills  for  which  they  sought  relief. 
These  ills  were  the  pressing  afflictions  of  their  lives — 
matters,  perhaps,  of  life  and  death  to  them  ;  and  their 
desire  for  Christ's  gift  had  all  the  intensity  in  it  with 
which  a  man  seeks  health  and  strength.  If  this  be 
the  type  of  an  inquirer's  mind,  how  different  is  it 
from  what  we  commonly  behold.  We  cannot  see 
the  hearts  of  men  ;  but  only  here  and  there  do  we 
seem  to  see  those  who  long  for  Christ  and  God 
as  for  their  lives,  and  hence  it  is  no  wonder  that  so 
few  possess  the  key  which  will  open  the  door  of  His 
presence-chamber.     And,  moreover,  in  this  matter  we 


/O  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

should  remember  that  our  desire  should  be  directly 
for  Christ's  blessing.  We  often  err  in  this.  We  want 
the  consequences  of  religion,  but  not  religion  itself. 
We  want  the  gain  of  godliness,  but  not  godliness 
itself.  We  desire  deliverance  from  punishment,  but 
not  deliverance  from  sin.  In  our  text,  however,  the 
diseases  of  which  these  Galileans  complained  are 
pictures  of  our  spiritual  diseases,  of  our  sins  and 
weaknesses,  and,  therefore,  the  desire  which  finds 
Christ  must  be  for  their  cure.  No  man  will  ever 
really  touch  the  mighty  Saviour  who  is  not  filled 
with  a  longing  for  a  pure,  Christ-like  life  so  strong 
as  to  be  the  chief  motive  of  his  mind. 

Is  it  not  true  that  God  is  always  found  less  by 
the  intellect  than  by  the  heart  ?  You  may  prove 
His  existence  and  discuss  His  nature  by  the  reason; 
but  you  know  Him  by  the  heart.  You  may  likewise 
prove  and  discuss  a  doctrine  of  Christianity,  such  as  that 
of  the  Providence  of  God ;  but  you  never  feel  it  to  be 
true  till  in  your  life  you  discover  that  He  actually  has 
led  and  protected  you.  You  may  prove  and  investigate 
a  force  of  nature,  determine  its  power  and  its  properties  ; 
but  you  cannot  know  it  thus  as  you  would  do  if  you 
used  it  for  practical  purposes  or  came  under  its  actual 
influence.  And  so  it  is  with  God.  The  pure  in  heart, 
they  shall  see  Him.  They  that  seek  for  Him  as  silver 
and  search  as  for  hid  treasure,  they  shall  find  out  the 
knowledge  of  God.     He  reveals   Himself  to  the  heart 


TOUCHING    CHRIST  ?l 

of  man.  We  feel  Him ;  we  do  not  see  Him.  We 
experience  Him ;  we  do  not  merely  demonstrate 
Him.  You  will  come  far  nearer  God  by  sinking  into 
the  depths  of  a  pure  heart  than  by  ascending  to  the 
loftiest  height  of  philosophy  and  reason.  And,  there- 
fore, with  His  Son  the  same  rule  holds.  Earnest 
desire,  the  longing  of  a  heart  for  holiness,  the  sin- 
cere wish  to  be  free  from  the  moral  disease  of  life — 
this  is  the  strength  of  arm  by  which  we  may  touch. 
By  this,  and  by  this  alone,  are  we  able  to  exert 
aright  that  faith  which  in  its  turn  is  the  hand  which 
we  actually  lay  on  the  hem  of  His  garment  as  He 
passes  by. 

Then,  to  our  desire  we  must  add  implicit  trust,  in 
order  to  come  into  close  and  helpful  contact  with  the 
Lord  Jesus.  If  a  man  have  real,  earnest  longing  for 
Christ's  gift,  and  then  simply  trust  Christ's  promise, 
he  is  sure  to  find  Christ  able  to  save,  and  Christ  will 
fill  that  man's  heart  with  His  blessing,  and  he  will 
feel  that  he  has  found  the  source  and  giver  of  spiritual 
life.  Truly,  it  is  marvellous  how  simple  are  the  means 
by  which  the  greatest  good  possible  to  man  may  be 
had.  It  was  a  simple  thing  to  touch  the  hem  of 
Christ's  garment,  and  yet  the  very  simplicity  of  the 
act  attests  the  strong  confidence  these  people  had  in 
His  power.  It  is  a  no  less  simple  thing  to  rest  upon 
His  power  and  promise  now ;  and  yet  this  also  attests 
a   strong    and   childlike    confidence. 


72  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

Of  course,  the  doubting  spirit  will  at  once  rise  up  and 
say,  You  are  believing  with  the  credulity  of  children. 
You  are  trusting  without  any  guarantee.  What  you 
imagine  to  be  Christ's  blessing,  is  in  truth  but  the  prod- 
uct of  your  own  mind.  Even  if  so,  wc  reply,  the  product 
is  a  good  one,  come  whence  it  may ;  better  far  than 
the  product  of  doubt.  But  it  is  not  credulity.  If  there 
has  ever  been  any  one  who,  by  character  and  by  His 
acts,  and  by  the  world's  knowledge  of  Him,  has  proved 
Himself  worthy  of  confidence,  that  person  is  Jesus. 
Was  it  credulity  in  these  Galilean  peasants  to  trust 
Him,  when  on  the  day  before  He  had  fed  five  thousand 
men  with  five  loaves  and  a  few  fishes  ?  And  is  it 
credulity  in  us  to  trust  Him,  when  through  eighteen 
hundred  years  He  has  fed  and  blessed  millions  more? 
We  think  not ;  and  we  are  sure  that  the  light  and 
peace  and  purity  which  flow  into  our  hearts  when  by 
faith  they  touch  Jesus  are  not  illusions,  but  are  the 
real  fulfillment  of  His  promise  and  the  proof  of  His 
claim  that  "  all  power  and  authority  are  His,  in  heaven 
and  on   earth." 

If  these  conditions  be  present,  it  is  possible,  I  say, 
to  touch  Jesus  Christ.  There  will  be  all  the  effect 
as  if  the  touch  were  physical.  The  mind  will  grasp 
His  thought,  the  heart  respond  to  His  command,  the 
truth  dawn  clear  and  bright.  Here,  then,  is  the 
way  to  perform  this  sublime  act.  Christ  Jesus  is  not 
inaccessible.      These   poor,   conscience-smitten,  sinful 


TOUCHING    CHRIST  73 

souls  about  us  may  feel  the  virtue  of  the  great  Healer. 
He  is  nigh  unto  all  them  that  call  upon  Him.  He  is 
with  us  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world.  There 
is  this  remedy  for  human  ill  and  sin,  and  it  will  be  as 
glad  a  day  for  a  man  now  if  he  touch  in  reality  the 
mighty  Christ  as  it  was  for  those  men  and  women  of 
Galilee.  Real  desire  and  simple  faith — these  are  the 
whole  secret.  Faith  the  hand,  and  desire  the  strength 
which  extends  the  hand.  Only  believe;  only  accept 
it  as  true,  and  it  will  prove  itself  to  be  true.  This  is 
the  lesson  which,  with  all  our  culture  and  knowledge, 
we  have  need  to  learn  from  the  afflicted  crowds  on 
which  on  that  bright  day  the  healing  power  fell  from 
Jesus  as  He  passed  through  His  native  land. 

But  you  will  ask,  Where  is  Christ  to  be  found  ? 
On  what  road  is  He  now  journeying ;  what  corners 
and  through  what  villages  will  He  be  likely  to  pass  ? 
So  we  may  imagine  the  Galilean  peasants  asking,  and 
in  similar  phrase  is  the  question  put  still.  We  might 
reply,  of  course,  that  He  is  everywhere,  and  this  would 
undoubtedly  be  true.  And  yet  He  still  would  be  a 
vague  and  indistinct  figure  to  many  minds.  It  is  hard 
to  grasp  the  thought  of  omnipresence.  We  must 
localize  even  divinity  itself,  and  there  are  by  God's 
good  providence  certain  places  where  Jesus  is  expected 
to  be  found,  and  where  our  desire  and  faith  may  sen- 
sibly lay  hold  upon  Him.  There  are  stations,  as  it 
were,  on  the  great  world's  highway ;  and  to  come  to 


74  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

these  in  order  to  touch  Jesus  is  the  special  invitation 
that  we  bring. 

So  we  say  that  with  desire  and  faith  you  may  touch 
Christ  in  the  Bible.  Were  we  to  take  you  without  ex- 
planation into  a  great  palace,  show  you  its  massive  walls, 
its  magnificent  corridors  and  halls,  and  point  out  the 
handiwork  of  ancient  days,  and  then  show  how  poster- 
ity has  added  to  the  art  and  invention  of  antiquity,  you 
would  ask,  For  whom  is  all  this  magnificence,  and  to 
whom  does  the  structure  belong?  The  answer  would 
be  given  by  taking  you  finally  into  the  presence  of  the 
king.  So  when  science  shows  you  the  marvels  of  the 
human  body,  explains  how  the  tissue  is  a  mass  of 
minute  cells,  how  the  blood  courses  through  the 
arteries  and  veins,  how  each  bone  and  muscle  has  its 
exact  part  to  play,  and  how  nature  has  lavished  its 
choicest  skill  in  the  construction  of  such  a  delicate 
machine,  you  naturally  ask,  For  what  purpose  has  this 
wonderful  organism  been  made  ?  And  we  think  that 
in  spite  of  all  skepticism  we  should  be  right  in  answer- 
ing, it  has  been  made  for  the  habitation  of  an  immortal 
soul ;  and  though  you  cannot  see  or  touch  the  soul, 
the  body  is  but  the  soul's  garment,  through  which  its 
power  issues  forth. 

In  much  the  same  way  would  we  lead  you  to  the 
Bible.  We  show  you  in  it  a  piece  of  literature  whose 
early  parts  reach  back  in  date  of  composition  to 
remote  ages.     We  show  you  choice  historical  records, 


TOUCHING    CHRIST  7$ 

the  literature  of  a  people  which  has  affected  more 
than  any  other  the  moral  sentiment  of  the  world. 
Here  are  materials  for  research  the  like  of  which 
are  scarcely  matched  by  the  hieroglyphs  of  Egypt 
or  the  bricks  of  Nineveh.  Here  are  ancient  songs 
that  utter  the  noblest  aspirations  of  the  human 
heart ;  and  here  are  prophetic  visions  by  which  the 
eye  of  antiquity  looked  dimly  into  the  future.  Above 
all,  here  is  a  sturdy,  inflexible  love  of  righteousness, 
faith  in  God  and  in  His  government,  which  stand  in 
marked  contrast  to  all  other  literature  that  has  de- 
scended from  the  remote  past.  And  now  by  a  singular 
providence  the  literature  has  been  completed  by  the 
story  of  the  early  days  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  whole 
has  been  preserved  and  united  into  one  volume, 
and  if  you  ask  why,  we  answer  that  it  may  reveal  and 
explain  and  exhibit  Jesus  Christ.  For  nothing  else 
has  it  been  done,  since  this  purpose  includes  all  lesser 
ones.  He  is  its  Alpha  and  its  Omega.  I  need  not 
demonstrate  this,  though  I  am  persuaded  that  few  have 
any  just  idea  of  how  extensively  and  completely  Christ 
underlies  the  surface  of  Scripture.  You  may  find 
Him  everywhere.  It  is  Christ  who  sanctifies  the  Bible. 
It  is  Christ  who  certifies  to  us  that  the  Bible  is  from 
God.  It  is  Christ  who  gives  the  Bible  its  value,  its 
power  to  purify  society,  its  authority  to  regulate  belief. 
Never  can  I  impress  too  deeply  on  your  minds  the 
truth    that    He    is   the    sum    and  the  substance,    the 


76  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

author  and  the  subject,  the  centre  and  the  soul  of 
this  great  Book. 

Now  if  a  man  have  no  deep  desire  for  Christ  and 
have  a  skeptical,  doubting  spirit  concerning  Christ, 
he  may  come  to  the  Bible  itself  and  possibly  not 
touch  Jesus.  It  may  be  that  its  nobility  of  sentiment 
and  the  influence  of  its  subject  will  overcome  his 
doubt.  But  it  may  not;  just  as  I  suppose  that  some 
even  among  those  Galilean  peasants  sneered  at  the 
enthusiasm  and  faith  of  their  companions,  and  of 
course  won  no  benefit,  even  as  they  asked  for  none. 
But  my  point  now  simply  is  that  desire  and  faith 
do  touch  Christ  in  the  Bible.  They  find  themselves 
satisfied  with  His  character  and  with  His  promises. 
He  is  such  a  Saviour  as  they  need.  They  find  them- 
selves purified  and  elevated  by  contact  with  Him.  He 
inspires  their  noblest  thoughts ;  He  overcomes  the 
power  of  sin  ;  He  shines  as  a  light  in  the  midst  of 
darkness.  Oh,  what  multitudes  can  testify  this  day 
that  they  have  thus  met  and  touched  Jesus  Christ 
and  have  been  healed  by  Him. 

Moreover,  we  say  that  desire  and  faith  may  touch 
Jesus  in  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  We  do 
not,  indeed,  belong  to  the  number  of  those  who  hold 
that  the  Lord's  Supper  conveys  some  mysterious 
benefit  which  cannot  elsewhere  be  had.  We  believe 
quite  the  contrary.  God  has  not  limited  His  grace 
to  such  formal  channels.    Just  as  we  believe  that  God 


TOUCHING    CHRIST  -J J 

may  be  known  elsewhere  than  in  the  Bible,  as  we 
believe  that  nature  is  eloquent  with  His  praises  and 
the  human  conscience  echoes  His  law,  so  do  we 
believe  that  Christ  may  be  approached  in  other  ways, 
and  be,  in  His  own  language,  eaten  by  other  means 
than  in  the  sacrament.  But  at  the  same  time,  as  the 
Bible  more  clearly  reveals  God  than  nature  and  con- 
science do,  so  does  the  soul  often  draw  nearer  to 
Christ  in  the  Supper  than  at  other  times.  It  is  a 
service  of  His  own  commanding,  and  the  very  loyalty 
which  leads  a  man  for  Christ's  sake  to  observe  it  is 
likely  to  insure  a  special  benediction  therein.  It  sets 
Him  forth  also  by  the  aid  of  visible  symbols,  and  so 
leads  the  mind,  which  always  needs  help  in  grasping 
things  invisible,  into  a  more  vivid  sense  of  divine  things. 
In  short,  here  is  an  appointed  place  and  time  for 
meeting  Christ,  an  appointment  which  I  think  no  sin- 
sick  soul  ought  to  neglect,  and  in  which  multitudes 
have  found  peace  and   comfort. 

And  it  is  evident  that  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  is  emphatically  the  exhibition  of  Christ. 
What  gives  it  power  ?  That  its  minister  is  an  or- 
dained man  ?  No.  It  could  be  celebrated  with  as 
much  benefit  by  those  on  whom  no  ordaining 
hands  have  ever  been  laid.  Does  its  power  lie  in  a 
priestly  blessing,  in  a  miracle  of  change,  in  any  un- 
natural fact  behind  the  obvious  symbols  themselves  ? 
It    does    not.      Does    it    lie,    then,    in    some    special 


78  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

virtue  in  the  recipient,  in  his  goodness,  his  fitness,  his 
moral  likeness  to  Christ?  Again  we  answer,  not  so, — 
save  as  by  fitness  be  meant  that  desire  and  faith  which 
we  have  already  found  to  be  the  universal  condition 
of  touching  Christ,  and  which  here,  as  elsewhere,  are 
necessary.  Wherein,  then,  lies  the  power  of  the 
sacrament?  We  answer,  in  its  exhibition  of  Christ. 
He  is  "  represented,  sealed,  and  applied  to  believers." 
Here  men  realize  what  He  was  and  is,  what  He  did 
and  does.  Here  the  soul  by  vivid  signs  and  pictures, 
and  by  the  aid,  we  doubt  not  also,  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
lays  hold,  as  we  say,  on  Him.  It  touches  Him.  It 
looks  upon  His  face.  It  feels  its  true  position  in  His 
sight.  It  believes  His  word.  It  feeds  on  His  flesh 
and  blood.  It  eats  the  living  manna,  and  it  may  know, 
as  multitudes  again  have  found,  that  he  that  eateth 
His  flesh  and  drinketh  His  blood,  by  real  faith,  hath 
eternal  life.  This  is  the  bread  of  God  that  came 
down  from  heaven,  that  a  man  may  eat  thereof  and 
not  die. 

Nor  are  the  Scriptures  and  the  Sacraments  the 
only  places  by  any  means  where  Jesus  may  be  met 
and  touched.  At  every  spot  where  men  engage  in 
prayer  and  earnest  thought  there  is  Jesus  to  be  found. 
I  presume  that  every  earnest  Christian  here  has  found 
that  at  times  his  prayer  and  meditation  have  been  bar- 
ren and  formal,  while  at  other  times  they  have  been 
full   of  power  and   refreshment.     The  spiritual  life  is 


TOUCHING    CHRIST  79 

subject  to  a  like  change  of  mood  with  the  common 
mental  life.  It  has  its  ebb  and  its  flood  tides,  its 
good  and  its  poor  seasons,  its  rainy  and  its  dry- 
months.  There  are  times  when  we  may  be  said  to 
wander  long  and  far  in  search  of  the  great  Healer; 
and  again  there  are  times  when  we  can  go  directly 
to  His  feet.  This  is  true  of  prayer,  and  the  same 
holds  true,  likewise,  of  thought  or  meditation. 

I  doubt  if  most  of  us  realize  as  we  should 
that  meditation  is  as  much  a  means  of  grace  as 
prayer.  We  are  too  busy,  commonly,  to  think  long 
upon  religious  themes  ;  we  are  too  weary  with  daily 
work  to  think  hard  upon  them ;  and  so  our  lives  are 
not  fruitful,  until  by  some  event  God  forces  us  to 
think,  and  it  may  be  to  think  bitterly.  Earnest 
thought  is  as  much  a  place  of  meeting  with  Jesus  as  is 
the  mercy  seat :  and  yet  it,  too,  has  its  times  of  power 
and  of  barrenness.  Now  the  mind  cannot  fix  itself  on 
divine  things,  or  can  do  so  only  in  a  cold  and  formal 
way ;  and  now  again,  thought  springs  unbidden  to 
the  mind  ;  memory  paints  its  glowing  pictures,  and  a 
keen  intelligence  of  the  Spirit  interprets  and  applies 
them  :  and  in  so  doing  the  soul  draws  near  to  God. 

What,  then,  we  ask,  is  the  secret  of  the  power  of 
prayer  and  meditation  ?  What  is  it  that  in  its  suc- 
cessful moments  the  praying  and  thinking  soul  finds  ? 
On  what,  on  whom,  has  faith  laid  its  living  hand  ? 
What  form  is  that,  which  in  the  darkness,  we  feel  but 


80  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

cannot  see?  What  influence  is  this  which  surrounds 
us  like  a  breath  of  heavenly  air?  Whence  comes 
this  strength,  this  joy,  this  vision  of  infinite  brightness  ? 
Ah,  poor  soul  that  does  not  know  the  magic  form  ! 
This  is  Jesus,  who  was  dead  and  is  alive  again,  and 
now  is  fulfilling  His  promise  of  perpetual  presence. 
To  touch  the  Son  of  God  thus  is  the  highest  glory 
which  a  man  can  have.  He  has  seen  the  Lord. 
He  has  touched  the  Lord,  and  he  has  obtained  what 
ought  to  be  to  him  the  strongest  possible  evidence 
that  Christ  is  able  to  save.  How,  then,  can  he  doubt 
it  ?  Once,  perhaps,  like  Thomas,  he  cried,  "  Except 
I  shall  see  in  His  hands  the  print  of  the  nails  and 
thrust  my  hand  into  His  side  I  will  not  believe."  But 
now  to  him  as  to  Thomas,  Christ  has  revealed  Him- 
self. He  has  said  in  effect,  "  Reach  hither  thy  finger, 
and  behold  My  hands  ;  and  reach  hither  thy  hand,  and 
thrust  it  into  My  side  :  and  be  not  faithless,  but  believ- 
ing." He  has  made  Himself  known  to  His  disciples 
as  He  does  not  unto  the  world.  Their  desire  and  faith 
have  found  Him  in  prayer  and  thought,  and  they 
may  again  exclaim  with  Thomas,  "  My  Lord  and 
my  God." 

Now  I  have  pointed  out  to  you  how  and  where 
Christ  may  be  met  and  touched ;  and  I  have  only 
to  add  that  it  is  as  true  now  as  of  old  that  "  as 
many  as  touch  Him  are  made  perfectly  whole."  We 
might  describe  the  joy  which  filled  many  hearts  on 


TOUCHING    CHRIST  8 1 

that  fair  morning  in  Galilee  when  the  sick  and  the 
helpless,  whom  friends  had  put  in  the  way  of  Jesus, 
sprang  up  in  the  vigor  of  restored  health.  We  should 
see  here  a  leper,  scarcely  believing  that  his  awful  curse 
was  gone ;  there  a  victim  of  possession,  marvelling  at 
the  pure  and  natural  life  which  he  had  found  again  ; 
the  blind  gratefully  beholding  the  blessed  face  of  Him 
who  was  indeed  God's  messenger  to  him,  and  thinking 
it  more  beautiful  than  even  those  of  friends  or  than  the 
fair  scene  about  him.  What  joy,  we  say,  came  that 
day  to  many  homes  in  Galilee,  as  the  gift  of  the  Son 
of  man ! 

And  we  might  show  a  larger  picture,  in  which  a 
greater  multitude  would  be  represented,  out  of  every 
condition  and  people,  once  sick  with  worse  diseases 
than  even  leprosy,  burdened  with  worse  sorrows  than 
disease — outcasts,  some  of  them,  and  by  their  side 
others  from  homes  of  wealth,  but  with  souls  no  less 
defiled,  yet  now  cleansed  and  purified  and  saved.  It 
is  that  picture  which  John  paints  of  the  great  mul- 
titude whom  no  man  can  number,  clothed  in  white 
robes,  with  palms  in  the  hand,  but  whose  garments 
are  white  because  dyed  in  blood,  and  who  sing  "  Sal- 
vation unto  our  God  and  to  the  Lamb."  Such  a 
picture  illustrates  our  text :  "  As  many  as  touched 
Him  were  made  perfectly  whole." 

How  so,  you  say,  when  even  those  who  have  found 
Him  in  the   Word,  and    in   the   Sacraments,  and  in 

6 


82  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

Prayer,  are  still  conscious  of  sin?  We  answer, 
Because  their  guilt  is  washed  away  by  His  blood ; 
their  sins  are  forgiven  them  for  His  sake ;  the  robe 
they  wear  is  His  righteousness,  not  their  own,  and 
the  palms  they  wave  are  for  His  triumph,  not  for 
theirs.  Instantaneous  and  everlasting  has  been  His 
gift  of  eternal  life ;  and  already  the  poison  of  sin  has 
been  abstracted,  the  root  of  evil  has  been  removed ; 
already  the  pure  life  is  dominating  over  the  impure, 
and  the  resistance  of  sin  to  goodness  in  the  heart  is 
becoming  feeble ;  the  leprosy  is  dying  away,  and  soon, 
yea  soon,  in  that  heavenly  kingdom  there  will  not  be 
a  trace  of  its  former  presence.  But  because  the  cure 
is  in  this  sense  gradual,  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  in 
the  other  sense  it  is  instantaneous  and  complete. 
Christ  transforms  life  to  a  man.  He  opens  a  new 
world.  He  fills  the  heart  with  spiritual  power.  He 
wakens  new  thoughts,  new  loves,  new  desires.  The 
old  man  falls  off,  a  new  creature  in  all  essential  prin- 
ciples takes  its  place.  This  is  conversion ;  this  is 
regeneration  ;  this  is  the  new  creation ;  these  are  the 
moments  in  which  we  find  God  and  draw  near  to  the 
Source  of  life ;  and  this  whole  result  comes  simply 
from  the  fact  that  by  honest  desire  and  faith  our  souls 
have  touched  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God! 

I  call  on  you,  who  are  His  people,  to  keep  your- 
selves near  this  Christ,  and  again  and  again  renew 
your    strength  by  touching    His   omnipotent  person. 


TOUCHING   CHRIST  83 

And  I  call  on  you,  who  are  yet  sin-sick,  who  are  yet 
unhealed — I  call  on  you,  as  these  Galileans  must  have 
called  on  their  sick  friends  on  that  famous  day,  to 
come,  and  come  quickly ;  come,  put  yourself  in  the 
way  ;  come,  reach  out  your  trembling  hand.  For,  as 
the  multitude  said  to  Bartimaeus,  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
is  passing  by!  You  need  all  that  He  has  to  give; 
why,  oh  why,  tarry  till  you  have  found  and  touched 
and  been  healed  by  the  Son  of  God  ? 


V 

BEHOLD   YOUR   GOD 

"  O  Zion,  that  bringest  good  tidings,  get  thee  up  into  the  high  moun- 
tain ;  O  Jerusalem,  that  bringest  good  tidings,  lift  up  thy  voice  with 
strength  ;  lift  it  up,  be  not  afraid  ;  say  unto  the  cities  of  Judah,  Behold 
your  God  !  "  —  Isaiah  xl.  9. 

We  should  do  great  injustice  to  the  Old  Testament 
prophets  if  we  regarded  them  merely  as  predictors 
of  future  events.  To  us,  indeed,  who  are  chiefly- 
concerned  with  later  events,  and  who  find  in  their 
prediction  evidence  of  the  truth  of  both  prediction 
and  fulfilment,  this  element  naturally  assumes  an  im- 
portant place  in  our  view  of  the  prophets.  But  from 
the  prophets'  own  point  of  view  this  was  a  secon- 
dary part  of  their  work.  Their  mission  was  primarily 
to  the  men  of  their  own  day.  They  were  raised  up 
by  God  to  proclaim  to  the  various  generations  of 
Israel  the  eternal  law  of  righteousness  ;  the  reality  and 
authority  of  God;  the  certainty  of  judgment  and 
award ;  the  gracious  purpose  of  God  with  Israel. 
They  were  preachers,  political  and  social  reformers, 
religious  statesmen.  Each  one  of  them  deserves  to 
be  studied  by  himself,  that  his  peculiar  personality 
may   appear,  framed    in  the   particular  circumstances 

85 


86  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

of  Israel  in  his  day.  Such  a  study  will  result  in  a 
gallery  of  portraits  than  which  none  more  instruc- 
tive and  various  can  be  found  in  all  the  museum  of 
history. 

Of  course,  treating  of  such  subjects,  the  prophets 
continually  pointed  Israel  to  the  future ;  and,  being  in- 
spired of  God,  they  gave  utterance  to  not  a  few  specific 
and  marvellous  predictions.  But  these  will  be  valued 
aright  only  when  the  immediate  purposes  of  prophecy 
are  put  in  the  foreground.  He  who  would  read  the 
prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  should  not  be  on  the 
watch  for  wonderful  predictions,  but  should  rather  lay 
hold  on  the  moral  and  religious  ideas  which  those 
mighty  men  of  God  enunciated  to  the  men  of  their 
own  age,  and  through  them  to  us;  and  because  of 
which  their  faces  were  ever  looking  toward  that  which 
was  to  come. 

These  remarks  are  preeminently  true  of  the  prophet 
Isaiah.  No  man,  indeed,  was  ever  transported  further 
into  the  future  than  was  he.  None  perceived  more 
clearly  both  the  immediate  and  the  remote  conse- 
quences of  the  course  in  which  events  were  running. 
No  man  ever  more  certainly  saw  through  the  veil 
of  futurity  that  he  might  describe,  sometimes  in 
singular  detail,  the  events  beyond  it.  No  inspired 
writer  has  more  perfectly  met  the  spiritual  needs  of  the 
generations  that  have  followed  him.  And  yet  not  on 
them  and  their  needs,  but  on  those  of  the  livinsr  Israel 


BEHOLD    YOUR    GOD  «7 

around  him,  were  Isaiah's  thoughts  fixed.  Over  the 
sins  of  his  age  he  lamented.  Against  the  unbelief  of 
Ahaz  he  directed  his  rebukes.  With  Hezekiah  he 
guided  the  reformation  which  that  prince  effected. 
His  object  was  to  call  the  people  back  at  once  to  God ; 
to  remedy  the  moral  evils  of  his  day ;  to  revive  the 
faith  of  Israel  in  Jehovah's  covenant  and  promise. 

It  was  for  this  that  he  directed  the  eyes  of  the  faith- 
ful to  that  sublime  hope  of  the  nation  unto  which,  as  he 
reassured  them,  in  spite  of  suffering  and  even  by  means 
of  suffering,  the  servant  of  God  should  attain.  Savona- 
rola, thundering  against  the  immoralities  of  Florence 
and  rebuking  alike  the  Medici  and  the  pope,  was  not 
more  a  preacher  to  his  day  than  Isaiah  under  Ahaz 
was  to  his.  Luther,  guiding  the  Protestant  reforma- 
tion under  the  protection  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony, 
was  not  more  concerned  with  the  immediate  issues 
of  the  hour  than  was  Isaiah  under  King  Hezekiah. 
Therefore,  we  shall  best  understand  Isaiah  if  we  re- 
gard him  as  thus  bearing  to  a  degenerate  nation  and 
a  fainting  church  the  message  of  divine  righteousness. 
We  are  to  conceive  of  him  as  a  man  whose  mind  was 
full  of  the  thought  of  God. 

One  day  there  had  come  to  him  a  vision  of  Jehovah 
in  the  temple,  seated  on  His  throne,  ministered  unto 
by  seraphim,  who  cried,  with  veiled  faces,  Holy,  Holy, 
Holy !  On  that  day  a  live  coal  from  the  altar  of 
Jehovah  had  seemed  to  be  laid  upon  the  prophet's  lips, 


88  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

that  thenceforth  he  might  utter  burning  words.  He 
became  from  that  moment  a  herald  of  God.  Against 
all  sin  he  declared  God's  anger ;  against  all  doubt  he 
declared  God's  promise;  against  all  danger  he  declared 
God's  faithfulness  ;  against  all  foes  he  declared  God's 
power.  This  was  the  substance  of  his  message.  This 
was  the  burden  of  his  soul.  He  was  made  a  revealer 
of  God  to  men.  The  people  were  prone  to  worship 
idols.  Isaiah  proclaimed  that  there  is  one  only  God. 
The  court  was  prone  to  make  alliances  with  pagan 
powers,  to  tremble  before  pagan  armies,  and  to  truckle 
to  pagan  compliments.  Isaiah  proclaimed  that  the 
only  hope  for  Israel  lay  in  God.  This  single  but  com- 
prehensive truth  seems,  I  say,  to  have  been  the  burden 
of  Isaiah's  thought ;  from  it  he  drew  his  predictions, 
whether  of  salvation  or  of  punishment.  The  character 
of  God  was  his  only  stronghold ;  the  being  of  God 
the  foundation  of  truth  and  of  Israel;  and,  therefore, 
when,  in  view  of  coming  calamities,  he  sought  to 
uphold  the  faith  of  the  loyal  remnant  of  the  people, 
our  text  was  again  the  substance  of  all  his  message. 
It  was  designed  to  comfort  and  to  stimulate.  It 
echoed  the  old  word  on  which  Abraham  had  fed,  and 
David,  too :  "  O  thou  that  bringest  good  tidings  to 
Zion,"  he  cried,  "  O  thou  that  bringest  good  tidings  to 
Jerusalem  :  lift  up  thy  voice  with  strength  ;  lift  it  up, 
be  not  afraid."  This  is  the  source  of  all  consolation, 
of  all  hope,  of  all  spiritual  life.     "  Say  unto  the  cities 


BEHOLD    YOUR    GOD  89 

of  Judah,  Behold  your  God  !  "  To  Isaiah's  mind  that 
was  the  all-sufficient  word. 

And  so,  I  think,  it  should  seem  to  our  minds. 
This  is  the  all-complete,  the  all-sufficient  word.  This 
is,  after  all,  the  simple  object  of  the  Bible.  The  Bible 
is  not  merely  a  revelation  from  God ;  it  is  also  and 
more  especially  a  revelation  of  God.  Have  you  so 
thought  of  it?  It  is  the  unveiling  of  the  hidden  deity. 
It  is  the  showing  to  us  what  God  is.  From  this  will 
follow  what  we  are  to  do.  But  the  object  of  the 
Bible  is  not  to  anticipate  the  future  and  not  to  answer 
curious  questions.  It  is  to  reveal  God,  that  we  may 
go  back  to  Him,  and  love  and  trust  and  revere  Him. 
Its  message  is  emphatically  just  this  of  Isaiah — Be- 
hold your  God !  Let  me  try  to  make  you  feel  what 
this  language  suggests. 

And  I  should  like  first  to  ask  if  this  simple  mes- 
sage is  not  one  which  men  greatly  need  to  have 
nakedly  presented  to  them?  Is  it  not  true  that  to 
most  men  God  is  not  a  felt  reality  ?  There  are  few, 
indeed,  who  would  openly  express  unbelief  in  God. 
Blank  atheism  is  very  uncommon.  But  the  more  re- 
fined agnosticism,  which  is  so  often  in  these  days  ex- 
pressed, would  seem  to  testify  that  many  people  have 
the  feeblest  possible  sense  of  God's  reality.  To  many 
men  of  the  world  He  is  a  dogma  of  which  they  sel- 
dom seriously  think ;  or  a  tradition  which  they  do  not 
disown,  but  the  truth  of  which  they  seldom   realize. 


90  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

He  is  a  reserved  belief,  perhaps,  which  they  keep  in 
a  dark  corner  of  their  mind  and  seldom  look  at — an 
assumed  but  neglected  fact — an  occasional  cause  of 
fear.  But  He  is  not  a  living  reality.  He  does  not 
affect  their  conduct  as  their  next  neighbors  do.  He 
does  not  encourage  and  restrain  them  as  even  their 
casual  acquaintances  do.  In  no  fair  sense  is  He  real- 
ized; still  less  is  His  friendship  cultivated.  How  few 
there  are  who  actually  share  the  sentiments  about 
God  uttered  by  prophets  and  apostles  and  saints! 
How  few  of  all  these  needy  multitudes  can  say,  "  God 
is  our  refuge  and  strength !  "  How  few  of  all  our 
dependent,  dying  humanity  can  feel,  "  In  Him  we  live 
and  move  and  have  our  being !  "     How  few  can  sing, 

"  My  God,  my  life,  my  love, 
To  thee,  to  thee,  I  call, 
I  cannot  live  if  thou  remove, 
For  thou  art  all  in  all." 

This  is  a  poor  blind  world :  and  the  reality  of  all 
realities,  how  few  there  are  who  feel ! 

Yet  is  it  not  true  that  this  loving  sense  of  God, 
as  we  may  call  it,  is  the  specific  difference  between  a 
really  good  and  a  really  bad  life  ?  Try  to  analyze  the 
characters  of  men  and  discover  the  precise  thing  which 
radically  separates  between  the  good  and  the  evil.  It 
is  not  that  some  are  moral  and  others  immoral ;  for 
men  may  be  moral  and  yet  have  thoroughly  worldly 
and  irreligious  minds.     It  is  not  that  some  are  sinless 


BEHOLD    YOUR    GOD  9  I 

and  others  sinful,  for  no  one  can  be  found  perfectly 
pure.  It  is  not  that  the  good  hold  to  one  creed  and 
the  bad  to  another ;  for  men  may  hold  to  a  good  creed 
but  not  live  up  to  it.  What  shall  we  say  is  the  differ- 
ence between  them — if  we  look  behind  actions  to 
motives ;  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  inner  as 
well  as  the  outer  life  ?  Is  it  not  this,  that  the  good 
think  of  God,  and  try  to  please  Him,  and  cultivate  His 
fellowship  and  mourn  over  whatever  grieves  Him  ?  Is 
not  this  the  root-fact  of  moral  character  ?  The  wicked 
are  those  who  have  not  God  in  their  thoughts ;  who 
do  not  willingly  draw  near  to  Him.  Goodness,  on  the 
contrary,  is  godliness.  The  good  man  is  the  one  to 
whom  God  has  been  practically  revealed — in  whom 
God  has  become  a  power  for  righteousness ;  whose 
sense  of  God  is  acute  and  constant.  Like  Enoch, 
he  "  walks  with  God."  Like  David,  he  meditates  upon 
God.     Like  John,  he  loves  Him. 

For  I  beg  you  to  consider  that  this  sense  of  God 
is  not  obtained  by  an  exercise  of  the  intellect.  It  is  a 
moral  sense,  like  the  sense  of  right  and  wrong;  and 
therefore  it  affects  a  man's  whole  life  and  character. 
The  human  mind  can,  I  believe,  logically  prove  the 
existence  of  God ;  but  who  in  the  world  was  ever  led 
to  live  a  godly  life  by  such  a  proof?  The  intellect  can 
likewise  prove,  I  believe,  that  there  is  a  fundamental 
difference  between  right  and  wrong  ;  but  who  was  ever 
led  to   do   right  by  such  argumentation  ?     It  is  the 


92  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

sense  of  right  itself  which  constrains  to  the  doing  of  it. 
One  man  will  have  a  sensitive  conscience  and  another 
will  not,  and  therefore  one  will  obey  and  the  other 
disobey.  And  so,  to  see  God  requires  a  spiritual 
awakening. 

How  it  comes,  the  human  mind  hardly  knows. 
The  Bible  tells  us  that  it  is  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  There  comes  to  a  man  more  or  less  of  this 
sense  of  God.  God  reveals  Himself  to  His  child. 
We  are  not  told  that  the  intellectually  strong  but 
that  the  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God.  The  con- 
science is  quickened.  The  heart  becomes  appreci- 
ative of  goodness  and  purity.  The  finite  soul  feels 
itself  in  the  hands  of  the  Infinite.  The  child  realizes 
his  Father's  unseen  presence.  It  is  a  complex  feeling, 
but  it  is  chiefly  a  moral,  not  an  intellectual,  fact.  And 
therefore  this  sense  of  God  determines  the  whole  of 
life.  Because  of  it  a  man  will  strive  to  live  for  what 
God  approves.  It  will  affect  his  thinking  and  his 
acting,  his  inner  and  his  outer  life.  He  is  not  yet 
sinless  by  any  means,  but  he  is  in  a  fair  way  to  become 
so.  The  root  of  holiness  has  been  planted.  He  has 
found  God,  and  that  is  the  real  difference  between  the 
good  and  the  bad ;  that  is  the  beginning  of  heaven  and 
of  holiness  and  of  peace. 

If  this  be  so,  then  what  the  Bible  calls  eternal  life 
may  be  entered  upon  even  here  and  while  we  are  still 
on  earth.     This  we  should  infer  from  what  the  Bible 


BEHOLD    YOUR    GOD  93 

says.  "  This  is  life  eternal,  to  know  Thee,  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom  Thou  hast  sent." 
Let  a  man  come  to  know  God,  let  him  enter  into 
this  divine  friendship  of  which  I  have  spoken,  and 
he  already  has  eternal  life.  Jesus  said,  "  Whosoever 
heareth  my  words  and  believeth  on  Him  that  sent  me, 
hath  everlasting  life  " ;  not  shall  have  it  hereafter,  but 
has  it  now ;  in  the  very  fact  of  believing,  eternal  life 
has  already  begun.  I  want  you  to  feel  that  you  may 
and  must  have  this  living  sense  of  God  here  on  earth ; 
that  you  may  carry  it  with  you  not  as  a  shadowy 
terror,  but  as  your  sweetest,  dearest  treasure ;  and 
that  if  you  have  it,  then  you  have  found  life.  For 
around  it  all  that  is  good  and  noble  and  pure  will 
gather,  as  the  verdure  of  the  oasis  gathers  round  a 
living  spring. 

What  is  our  need,  then,  but  to  behold  God — to 
feel  His  presence,  to  admire  His  beauty,  to  enjoy  His 
friendship,  to  obey  His  will  ?  I  tell  you,  this  is  the 
secret  of  life.  Perhaps  you  think  merely  of  escaping 
punishment.  Believe  me,  if  that  be  all  that  moves 
you,  you  are  as  far  from  happiness  as  ever.  You 
think,  perhaps,  to  be  moral  but  not  religious.  Believe 
me,  morality,  great  as  it  is,  will  not  meet  the  deep- 
est needs  of  your  immortal  spirits.  You  think,  it 
may  be,  of  even  less  laudable  helps.  You  think  that 
philosophy  will  support  you,  or  human  love  bless 
you,  or    churchly  rites  sanctify  you.     But  no !     Soul 


94  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

of  man,  your  need  is  deeper;  the  secret  of  life  is  still 
undiscovered  by  you  ;  you  need  God !  You  need 
to  realize  Him — you  need  to  love  Him  !  This  is  the 
great  law  of  spiritual  life;  for  this  the  Bible  has  been 
given  ;  for  this  the  Saviour  died ;  for  this  the  Spirit 
is  working.  Let  us  face  the  whole  truth  and  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  less.  I  am  not  asking  any 
great  spiritual  attainment.  I  am  not  pleading  for 
anything  fantastic  or  unnatural.  This  is  the  most 
practical,  most  fundamental  of  facts.  Eternal  life  for 
the  human  soul  is,  and  can  be,  found  only  in  life  with 
God.  And  therefore  the  old  prophet,  in  his  short, 
simple  exhortation,  gives  the  plainest  and  most  direct 
of  Gospels  when  he  cries  to  men  in  their  manifest 
and  bitter  needs,  "  Behold  your  God  !  " 

But  if  so,  then  let  us  look  directly  at  the  revelation 
of  Himself  which  God  has  made  to  us  through  the 
Bible,  or,  rather,  of  which  the  Bible  is  the  depository, 
in  order  that  we  may  be  able  to  perceive  more  dis- 
tinctly the  object  to  which  the  prophet  points  us. 
Isaiah  bade  the  people  to  look  to  their  God — to  look 
away  from  their  trials  and  perils,  away  from  their 
sins  and  fears,  to  that  Jehovah  who  had  entered  into 
everlasting  covenant  with  Israel.  The  prophet  knew 
that  that  revelation  would  appear  most  comforting, 
most  inspiring,  and  that  with  their  God  in  sight  their 
courage  would  revive.  Soldiers,  fainting  on  the  battle- 
field before  the  enemy's  assault,  look  at  the  stained, 


BEHOLD    YOUR    GOD  95 

torn  banner  of  their  country,  and  re-form  their  ranks 
and  return  afresh  to  the  onset.  Poor  sick  men  and 
women,  terrified  by  the  seeming  approach  of  death, 
look  at  the  hopeful  face  and  calm  confidence  of  their 
physician  and  already  are  made  better.  Ship-wrecked 
mariners,  on  the  very  verge  of  hopelessness,  catch 
sight  of  a  distant  sail  and  gather  up  their  powers  for  a 
little  longer  fight  for  life.  These  are  illustrations  of 
what  the  thought  of  God,  the  revelation  of  God  to  the 
individual  soul,  may  do.  For  the  Bible  stands  beside 
fainting,  tempted,  weary,  dying  humanity  with  these 
words  of  cheer,  "  Behold  your  God !" 

Now  I  do  not  profess  to  be  able  to  tell  you  all 
that  God  is.  The  Bible  itself,  I  suppose,  does  not  tell 
all  that  God  is.  It  records  the  revelation  of  Himself 
which  He  has  made  to  us.  But  what  glories  are  still 
unrevealed  we  know  not :  what  majesty  mortal  vision 
could  not  bear;  what  treasures  human  hearts  could 
not  yet  value ;  what  beauties  flash  upon  the  eyes  of 
the  angels  and  the  glorified — this  has  not  been  told. 
We  may  assume  that  as  there  are  stars  not  yet  discov- 
ered by  our  telescopes,  and  mysteries  of  force  that 
have  not  yet  been  revealed  by  science,  so  there  are 
splendors  and  beauties  of  Deity  which  the  human  mind 
has  never  yet  conceived.  Nor  can  I  even  hope  to 
describe  now  all  that  God  has  revealed  Himself  to 
be.  For  this  you  must  study  the  Scriptures  by  the 
aid  of  strong  faith  and  in  the  light  of  earnest  prayer. 


96  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

You  will  find  that  what  the  Bible  calls  "  the  fullness 
of  God "  is  marvellous.  Most  of  us  take  in  but 
fragments  of  His  revelation — side  gleams  and  fitful 
flashes  of  His  glory.  Most  of  us  are  so  deeply  im- 
pressed with  some  features  of  His  character  as  to 
forget  others.  You  know  that  there  has  been  no 
more  fruitful  source  of  error  than  just  this.  Men  take 
part  of  truth  and  consider  it  the  whole.  They  take 
partial  views  of  God  and  deduce  from  these  their 
whole  theology.  Against  this  we  must  always  strive 
by  seeking  from  the  written  word  itself  clearer  and 
broader  views,  until,  in  the  experience  of  the  Christian 
life,  we  are  filled,  as  Paul  says,  with  all  the  fullness  of 
God. 

Let  me  only  point  you  to  some  aspects  of  the  divine 
character  which  seem  to  be  specially  important  for  us 
to  behold. 

I  would  say,  for  one  thing,  behold  the  watchful 
interest  of  your  God  in  the  lives  of  all  His  children. 
He  has  so  revealed  Himself,  and  the  fact  is  wonderful. 
This  we  may  call  God's  moral  nearness  to  each  one 
of  us.  You  know,  of  course,  that  He  is  physically 
near  to  all.  God  is  omnipresent.  We  think  of  Him, 
perhaps,  as  living  in  heaven  and  with  penetrating  eye 
surveying  the  universe.  But  that  is  a  partial  view. 
Let  us  remember  that  He  is  everywhere,  in  all  the 
vast  extent  of  this  universe,  to  which  no  bounds  have 
yet  been  found ;  and  in  each  spot  present  in  all  the 


BEHOLD    YOUR    GOD  97 

fullness  of  His  infinite  power.  But  your  God  is  not 
only  thus  near  you  in  space — He  is  near  you  in  heart. 
This  is  an  even  grander  thought.  He  is  near  as 
Father.  He  is  concerned  in  every  event  of  life,  cogni- 
zant of  every  thought,  controlling  every  circumstance, 
tenderly  watchful  of  every  movement  of  your  soul. 
As  a  mother  bends  over  her  child,  observes  every 
motion,  cares  for  every  need,  so  the  infinite  God  docs 
with  each  of  His  human  children. 

Did  He  not  reveal  Himself  thus  from  the  begin- 
ning? Behold  your  God  walking  in  paradise  with 
Adam  ;  speaking  in  stern  rebuke  to  Cain ;  communing 
as  a  friend  with  Enoch;  journeying  to  Canaan  and  in 
Canaan  with  Abraham ;  making  Jacob's  stony  pillow 
soft  at  Bethel ;  with  Joseph  in  Egypt ;  on  Horeb  with 
Moses;  inhabiting  a  tent  among  the  tribes  of  Israel; 
speaking  through  the  prophets ;  at  last,  incarnate  in 
Jesus  Christ — so  runs  the  record  of  revelation.  Is  it 
not  all  a  fuller  and  ever  fuller  expression  of  one  idea — 
that  God  is  with  us  ;  that  in  Him  we  live  and  move  and 
have  our  being ;  that  He  knows  our  frame ;  and  that 
His  watchful  interest  never  ceases  and  His  hand  is 
never  wanting  to  protect  and  guide  ? 

This,  I  say,  is  God  as  He  has  revealed  Himself. 
Behold  Him!  He  is  by  your  side.  Were  the  veil 
of  sense  drawn  aside,  you  would  see  Him ;  you  would 
see  His  smile ;  you  would  be  moved  by  His  grief  over 
your  sin ;  you  would  be  startled  by  His  frown ;  you 


98  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

would  cast  yourself  upon  Mis  breast.  What  solemnity, 
what  carefulness,  what  joy,  what  purity,  what  hope 
should  not  this  overshadowing  of  the  wings  of  the 
Almighty  cause  ?  To  every  sinful,  fearful  heart,  how 
should  the  message  ring,  with  mingled  notes  of  warn- 
ing and  of  encouragement,  Behold — behold  your  God! 
Bu(  we  say  further,  behold  the  faithfulness  of  God. 
We  know  that  God  is  unchangeable.  We  cannot 
conceive  of  Him  as  increasing  or  diminishing  in 
any  of  His  attributes.  From  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting He  is  God.  But  I  beg  you  to  observe  that 
He  has  revealed  Himself  not  merely  as  unchange- 
able in  nature,  but  as  faithful  in  heart  and  action. 
Faithfulness  is  the  moral  side  of  unchangeability,  and 
it  is  the  most  precious  side.  Relatively  speaking,  the 
laws  of  nature  are  unchangeable.  They  govern  every- 
where. They  have  existed  from  the  beginning  of 
creation,  and  yet  they  waken  no  emotion,  they  bring 
no  comfort  to  our  hearts.  Humanly  speaking,  the 
mountains  are  unchangeable.  Their  gray  cliffs  face 
the  storms  of  centuries,  and  their  huge  masses  remain 
apparently  the  same,  while  the  scenes  of  human  life 
pass  and  fade  away.  And  yet  they  do  but  image  and 
suggest  a  source  of  help  which  they  themselves  can- 
not afford.  They  are  as  cold  as  they  are  motionless ; 
they  are  as  heartless  as  they  are  hard.  But  God  has 
revealed  Himself  as  faithful ;  and  here  is  brought  to 
view  strength   and  love    combined.     For   faithfulness 


BEHOLD    YOUR    GOD  99 

is  being  true,  and  God  is  true  to  His  nature,  true  to 
His  word,  true  to  His  promises,  true  to  His  children. 
How  plainly  the  Bible  record  exhibits  God's  faithful- 
ness. It  shows  the  original  purpose,  with  which  man 
was  made,  carried  out  in  spite  of  sin,  even  at  the  cost 
of  redemption.  It  shows  the  promise  to  the  woman 
fulfilled  in  the  victory  of  Christ  with  which  the  Apoca- 
lypse closes.  It  is  the  record  of  the  resistless,  onward- 
moving  plan,  which  God  had  formed  in  the  beginning, 
faithfully  executed  in  spite  of  man's  failure — faithfully 
performed  in  spite  of  every  hindrance.  Yes,  He  is  a 
faithful  God ;  and  therefore  we  may  trust  Him  to  the 
uttermost.  To  every  one  who  is  despondent,  His 
word  comes.  To  every  one  who  hesitates  to  serve 
Him  because  of  a  sense  of  weakness  or  a  fear  of 
failure,  His  word  comes.  To  every  one  who  is  dis- 
posed to  doubt  human  progress  and  the  world's  con- 
version, or  to  stand  aghast  at  the  seeming  delays  of 
Providence,  or  to  tremble  at  the  approach  of  death, 
His  word  comes,  Behold  your  God !  Turn  away  from 
the  changes  of  life  and  behold  Him,  the  same  forever. 
Turn  from  the  petty  conflicts  of  men  and  behold  His 
hand,  which  is  outstretched  to  control  them.  Turn 
from  delays  and  reverses  as  they  appear  to  us,  and 
behold  His  unaltered  purpose  which  runs  through 
them.  Behold  your  God  and  doubt  not ;  and  fear 
not.  Heaven  and  earth  may  pass  away,  but  His  word 
never. 


IOO  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

And  so  turn  finally  to  the  climax  of  God's  reve- 
lation of  Himself  and  behold  His  redeeming  love.  I 
need  not  remind  you  that  this  is  the  aspect  most 
peculiar  to  the  revelation  of  God  which  the  Bible 
records.  We  know  that  He  is  righteous  and  holy,  for 
He  has  so  revealed  Himself  in  our  consciences.  But 
we  should  never  have  known  His  redeeming  love  ex- 
cept through  an  actual  redemption.  And  as  we  study 
the  record  of  God's  revelation,  this  love  stands  con- 
spicuously out.  It  is  whispered  in  the  first  promise; 
it  is  manifest  in  the  later  covenant  with  Abraham  and 
with  Israel.  It  is  proclaimed  by  the  prophets  :  "  I  am 
the  Lord  thy  God,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  thy  Re- 
deemer." It  is  foretold  by  the  rites  of  the  temple,  and 
it  actually  did  redeem  us  at  Calvary. 

And  so  it  has  come  to  pass  that  if  you  would  know 
God  you  must  look  for  Him  in  the  most  unlikely  place. 
The  prophet  cries  unto  men  in  their  distress,  "  Behold 
your  God,"  and  lo !  to  what  a  spectacle  he  points  us. 
For  there  must  be  a  brighter  manifestation  of  God  made 
than  that  which  nature  contains,  though  the  heavens 
with  their  starry  host  and  rolling  sun  and  mighty 
laws  declare  His  glory  and  the  firmament  shows  His 
handiwork.  There  has  been  a  revelation  made  of  the 
Infinite  more  wonderful  than  that  which  burst  upon 
the  eyes  of  trembling  Israel  when  the  mountain  shook 
with  His  footsteps  and  its  crest  flamed  with  the  fires 
of  His  unapproachable  presence.     What  is  it  ?     When 


BEHOLD    YOUR    GOD  IOI 

was  it  made?  Surely  in  some  most  seraphic  form,  by 
some  tremendous  act  of  omnipotence.  Did  the  heaven 
roll  back  its  curtains,  that  to  mortal  gaze  there  might 
appear  the  King  upon  His  eternal  throne  ?  Nay,  look  ! 
there  is  a  rabble  gathered  round  three  crosses.  On  the 
middle  one  a  Jewish  peasant  is  transfixed.  He  is  dying 
of  fever  and  of  thirst  and  of  a  broken  heart.  The 
mob  are  shaking  their  fists  at  his  helpless  form,  and 
laughing  at  his  agony.  Then  they  leave  him  to  his 
fate,  and,  under  a  darkened  sky,  surrounded  by  a  few 
friends  and  a  few  soldiers,  the  crucified  Jew  expires 
with  a  loud  cry.  Who  was  he  ?  Humanity,  listen  ! 
The  voices  of  angels,  the  voices  of  prophets,  the  voices 
of  apostles,  now  at  last  the  voices  of  many  millions, 
answer,  Behold  your  God !  Here  He  has  laid  bare 
His  heart  of  hearts.  Here  He  has  revealed  Himself 
most  fully.  God  is  love.  He  is  redeeming  love.  He 
has  died  in  the  person  of  His  Son  to  save  the  lost. 
This  indeed  is  the  climax  of  the  revelation  of  God. 

"  Well  might  the  sun  in  darkness  hide, 
And  shut  its  glories  in, 
When  God,  the  mighty  maker,  died 
For  man,  the  creature's,  sin." 

Look,  ye  sinners,  ye  needy  mortals,  ye  sin-cursed 
and  perishing — look,  behold  your  God  !  Pilate  brought 
Him  out  before  the  multitude,  crowned  with  thorns 
and  robed  in  mocking  purple,  and  said,  "  Behold  the 
man."     But  we  bring  Him  forth  crowned  with  the  ap- 


102  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

probation  of  His  Father,  robed  in  the  vestments  of 
heaven.  We  bring  Him  forth  crucified,  and  say  with 
the  prophet,  "  Behold  your  God  !"  If  this  be  God, 
then  sin  has  found  its  cure;  then  death  has  lost 
its  sting;  then  the  curse  has  been  removed;  then 
whosoever  will  may  have  everlasting  life.  And  He  is 
God.  The  resurrection  proved  it  beyond  all  possibility 
of  doubt.  And  because  He  is  God  you  may  have  access 
unto  the  Father,  and  may  live  forever,  being  reconciled 
through  Christ.  God  commendeth  His  love  toward  us 
in  that  while  we  were  yet  sinners  Christ  died  for  us. 
Much  more,  then,  being  now  justified  by  His  blood  we 
shall  be  saved  from  wrath  through  Him.  The  crucified 
Christ  completes  the  revelation  of  God. 

And  so  we  press  home  on  your  thought  to-day 
these  words  of  Isaiah,  with  all  their  fuller  meaning, 
Behold  your  God  !  Through  the  revelation  of  Himself 
which  He  has  made  you  may  enter  into  life  with  Him, 
you  may  find  Him  now,  you  may  discover  the  secret 
of  peace  and  holiness.  By  Him  God  will  come  into 
your  lives  if  you  will  let  Him.  Thus  you  may  con- 
quer every  spiritual  foe.  You  may  walk  with  Him 
like  Enoch,  and  work  for  Him  like  Paul,  and  love  Him 
like  John :  only  keep  your  gaze  fixed  upon  Him.  In 
every  hour  of  temptation  and  of  trial,  in  times  of 
despondency,  in  the  common  work  of  life,  amid  the 
dust  of  the  highway,  in  the  quiet  of  your  home,  look 
unto  Him.     Behold  your  God  !     Let  Him  nerve  you, 


BEHOLD    YOUR    GOD  IO3 

let  Him  inspire  you,  let  Him  hold  you  up.  Live  as 
seeing  Him  who  is  invisible.  Keep  your  sight  fixed 
upon  the  Father  revealed  in  Jesus.  Live  and  die  with 
Him  for  your  dearest  thought,  and  when  you  pass 
from  earth  you  shall  see,  as  now  you  cannot ;  you  shall 
hear  the  guardian  angels  that  bear  your  soul  into  the 
light  of  heaven  cry  to  you  at  last,  Behold  Him — 
Behold  your  God !  His  name  is  Immanuel — God 
with  us.  His  cross  is  our  banner,  and  He  Himself  is 
our  shield  and  our  great  reward. 


VI 

THE  KEEPER  OF  ISRAEL 

"  Behold,  He  that  keepeth  Israel  shall  neither  slumber  nor  sleep." — 
Psalm  cxxi.  4. 

To  realize  the  presence  and  activity  of  God  is  one 
of  the  greatest  delights  of  a  spiritual  mind.  To  such 
a  man  God  is  not  an  object  of  fear,  but  the  cause  of 
peace  and  the  ground  of  hope.  The  more  vivid  the 
sense  of  His  being  becomes,  the  more  joyous  does 
life  appear,  the  more  beautiful  is  nature,  the  more 
promising  is  the  future.  Without  God,  life  is  an  un- 
explained enigma ;  no  sufficient  reason  for  it  can  be 
found,  no  guide  to  its  mysteries,  no  clue  to  its  mean- 
ing. Nor  has  a  cold,  formal  belief  in  Him  any 
value  for  practical  purposes.  He  must  be  felt  in  order 
to  satisfy ;  He  must  be  realized  by  a  willing  and 
loving  heart  in  order  that  He  may  still  the  turmoil  of 
the  mind  by  the  power  of  His  manifested  love.  When 
He  is  thus  realized,  it  is  as  though  an  everlasting 
rock  had  been  revealed  beneath  our  feet;  as  though 
the  day  had  broken  after  a  weary,  restless  night ;  as 
though  a  lost  and  frightened  wanderer  had  found  a 
friend.  Then  may  the  mind  contemplate  His  infinite 
attributes  with  awful  joy,  and,  conscious  at  last  that  it 

105 


106  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

lives,  moves  and  has  its  being  in  Him,  draw  both  holi- 
ness and  comfort  from  every  one  of  the  qualities  which 
He  possesses. 

It  was  for  such  a  mood  that  this  Psalm  and  this  text 
were  framed.  In  the  lofty  citadel  of  Mount  Zion  the 
Psalmist  saw  in  thought  the  never-sleeping,  ever-active 
Jehovah.  His  power  was  exercised  throughout  all 
nature  and  in  the  least  event  of  Providence.  He  guided 
sun  and  moon  in  their  courses,  and  He  preserved 
in  safety  the  humblest  of  His  people.  With  intense 
delight  did  this  believer,  who  seems  to  have  felt 
greatly  the  need  of  divine  protection,  turn  this  thought 
over  in  his  mind.  Whether  he  scanned  the  firma- 
ment with  its  countless  stars,  or  the  perils  of  pestilence 
and  famine  upon  earth  ;  or  whether  he  considered  the 
moral  dangers  to  which  he  was  exposed  on  every  hand 
and  the  ease  with  which  his  feeble  feet  might  slip  in 
life's  uncertain  pilgrimage;  he  was  consoled  by  the 
knowledge  that  He  that  keeps  Israel  shall  neither 
slumber  nor    sleep. 

What  a  contrast  between  this  sense  of  God  and 
the  cold,  unmoving  thoughts  of  Him  which  most 
men  have !  Is  it  not  the  fact  that  to  most  He 
seems  asleep  ?  They  cannot  recognize  Him  in  the 
world  of  nature,  which  seems  to  them  to  grind  out 
results  like  a  huge  and  blind  machine.  The  only  idea 
which  they  have  of  a  manifestation  of  God  is  some- 
thing which  interrupts  the  usual  course  of  events  or 


THE   KEEPER    OF  ISRAEL  107 

forces  the  existence  of  a  supernatural  cause  upon  their 
eyes  and  ears.  And  when  this  does  not  occur,  the 
round  of  work  and  play  goes  forward  and  God  fades 
from  their  thoughts.  If  they  pray,  they  feel  like  Baal's 
priests,  who,  in  Elijah's  satire,  had  to  waken  their  deity 
from  slumber  or  recall  him  from  a  journey.  Their 
fancy  has  placed  Him  in  the  heavens,  far  beyond  the 
level  of  human  life,  like  the  gods  of  Epicurus,  who 
feasted  in  serene  enjoyment  in  the  heavenly  regions 
without  care  for  earthly  matters.  Under  the  influence 
of  such  ideas  religion  dwindles  to  insignificant  pro- 
portions. It  loses  its  eye  for  the  invisible.  It  becomes 
the  cry  of  the  deserted  Hagar  in  the  wilderness.  And 
while  there  may  be  retained  a  formal  faith  in  Deity,  the 
march  of  man  along  his  weary  road  must  go  on  without 
Him  until,  perchance,  in  some  better  world,  the  soul 
shall  return  to  Him  who  made  it. 

Not  such  is  the  Bible  idea  of  a  living  God ;  not 
such  was  the  Hebrew,  not  such  is  our  Christian,  faith. 
We  hold  that  He  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us  ; 
and  our  support  in  every  danger  of  body  and  of  mind 
is  this  :  "  Behold,  He  that  keepeth  Israel  shall  neither 
slumber  nor  sleep."  Let  me  inquire  with  you  if  this 
confidence  be  well  founded.  Is  the  text  true,  and 
how  ?  Let  me  help  you  to  realize  the  ceaseless  activ- 
ity of  God  and  the  comfort  and  confidence  which  this 
truth  should  create. 

Every  consideration,  whether  drawn  from  reason  or 


108  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

from  Scripture,  should  keep  us  from  thinking  of  God 
as  separated  from  the  world.  Some  men,  feeling  that 
there  must  have  been  an  uncaused  cause  to  account 
for  the  existence  of  the  universe,  admit  that  God  must 
be.  But,  having  assumed  His  existence  at  the  begin- 
ning, they  have  no  further  use  for  Him  and  insist  that 
the  world,  having  been  created,  has  since  the  creation 
run  its  course  without  divine  assistance.  Back  in  the 
darkness  of  the  past  they  see  a  single  moment  in 
which  God  was  active.  This,  of  course,  involves  the 
belief  that  He  still  exists.  But  for  all  that  they  can 
see  He  has  been  sleeping  ever  since  He  spoke  the 
word  which  called  creation  into  being.  The  world, 
they  think,  is  running  itself.  God  is  not  in  it.  He  is 
somewhere  outside  of  and  remote  from  it.  He  has  not- 
interfered  with  the  operation  of  the  mechanical  laws 
which  He  imposed  on  it  at  the  start.  All  that  has 
come  to  pass  in  nature  and  human  life  has  been  due 
to  the  working  of  those  forces  which  were  inherent, 
though   latent,   in  them  from  the  first. 

It  is  obvious  that  such  a  view  could  not  permit 
expressions  like  these  of  the  Psalmist.  It  would 
not  allow  us  to  speak  of  God  as  "  keeping "  any 
one.  He  could  not  be  our  "  help."  We  could  not 
suppose  Him  to  be  preserving  our  going  out  and 
our  coming  in.  We  should  have  to  call  on  med- 
ical science  and  political  economy  and  human  friend- 
ship   and    beseech  them    to    preserve    us    from    all 


77 IE   KEEPER    OF  ISRAEL  IOQ 

evil.  Indeed,  the  whole  Christian  system  is  a  protest 
against  the  idea  of  a  distant  God.  That  idea  has  no 
place  in  it  for  Christianity ;  no  place  for  an  incar- 
nation or  an  atonement.  Christianity  insists  that  God 
will  dwell  with  man;  that  He  has  "pitched  His  tent" 
among  us ;  that,  like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  so 
the  Lord  pitieth  them  that  fear  Him ;  and  that  He  is 
most  intimately  concerned  in  guiding  the  process  of 
man's  history  to  an  intended  issue.  To  think  of  God, 
therefore,  as  having  merely  created  the  world  and 
left  it  to  itself,  is  to  deny  the  revelation  of  Himself 
which  God  has  made.  Besides,  the  theory  is  unreason- 
able. If  there  be  a  God  at  all,  He  must  amount  to 
more  than  this.  It  would  be  unworthy  of  the  attri- 
butes which  we  suppose  Him  to  possess.  The  notion 
is,  in  fact,  but  a  mere  cover  for  unbelief  in  God :  nothing 
but  an  unwilling  confession  that  the  reason  itself  can- 
not avoid  admitting  His  being,  even  when  it  wishes  to 
do  away  with  Him. 

There  are  others  who  go  further,  under  the  press- 
ure of  irresistible  facts,  and  think  of  God  as  not  merely 
the  creator  of  the  world,  but  as  the  watchful  ob- 
server of  its  progress,  and  as  interfering  now  and  then 
when  matters  have  gone  wrong,  to  set  them  right. 
Still  He  is  conceived  of  as  separated  from  His  creation. 
It  runs  its  way  for  the  most  part  without  Him.  He 
is  simply  watching  it  from  above,  as  an  inventor  might 
watch  an  instrument  which  he  has  constructed.     At 


I  IO  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

times  he  puts  forth  his  hand  and  adjusts  the  machinery. 
He  is  like  the  superintendent  of  a  factory :  he  does  not 
run  the  machine!)-  nor  kindle  the  fires  nor  move  the 
crank  ;  but,  when  a  difficulty  occurs  and  the  machinery 
gets  out  of  order,  he  is  summoned  to  set  it  in  order; 
and  when  he  thinks  the  time  has  come  for  it,  he  does 
away  with  the  old  instruments  and  forges  new  and 
better.  So  God,  it  is  thought,  at  times  has  interfered 
to  adjust  the  machinery  of  life  and,  on  one  great  occa- 
sion, to  set  up  new  machinery ;  but  for  the  rest  of 
the  time  He  merely  watches  it  turn  out  its  product. 
This  view,  you  see,  has  a  place  in  it  for  Christianity. 
According  to  it,  God  is  not  seemingly  asleep,  and  it 
might  be  possible  for  a  man  to  speak  of  Him  as  his 
keeper.  But  it  does  not  admit  that  He  is  always  active, 
and  therefore  we  insist  that  the  theory  is  incomplete 
and  insufficient.  It  still  leaves  man  and  the  world 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  time  separated  from  God. 
God  becomes  simply  man's  last  resource.  It  teaches 
him  to  turn  to  God  when  everything  else  has  failed, 
with  a  belief  in  the  possibility  that  God  may  help 
him.  Yet  only  some  great  occasion,  some  dire  ne- 
cessity, will  induce  such  a  God  to  interfere.  He 
will  not  always  be  thrusting  His  hand  into  His 
creation.  We  cannot  expect  Him  to  do  it  for  every 
one  of  his  countless  creatures  in  the  petty  trials  of 
their  little  lives.  For  the  greater  part  of  human 
life  He  is  practically  asleep :  at  least  He  is  quiescent, 


THE   KEEPER    OF  ISRAEL  1 1 1 

even  though  awake.  And,  therefore,  the  greater  part 
of  life  is  separated  from  Him  and  He  from  it. 

Certainly,  such  an  idea  of  God  is  utterly  unscrip- 
tural.  The  Bible  speaks  of  Him  as  the  One  in  whom 
we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  Not  a 
sparrow  falls  to  the  ground,  said  Christ,  without 
your  Father.  He  doeth  His  will  in  the  armies  of 
heaven  and  among  the  inhabitants  of  earth.  It  is 
not  possible  to  escape  from  God.  We  abide  under 
the  shadow  of  the  Almighty.  If  I  take  the  wings 
of  the  morning  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  sea,  even  there  shall  Thy  hand  lead  me  and 
Thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me.  "  Do  not  I  fill 
heaven  and  earth?"  said  the  Lord;  and  the  apostle 
answered,  "  He  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us." 

What,  then,  shall  we  say,  and  how  are  we  to  think 
of  God  ?  We  are  to  think  of  Him  as  upholding,  by 
the  constant  exercise  of  His  will,  the  very  being  of  the 
world ;  as  being  in  it  as  well  as  above  it ;  as  operating 
through  its  laws  and  forces  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places ;  never  once  letting  it  go  beyond  His  control ; 
never  once  allowing  it  to  be  independent  of  Him ;  inces- 
santly sustaining  and  guiding  the  processes  of  its  life. 
He  is  above  and  behind  and  in  it.  On  His  volition  its 
existence  hangs.  He  is  not  separated  from  it  or 
limited  by  it,  but  He  is  ever  manifesting  Himself 
through  it.  We  may  illustrate  this  by  the  relation  of 
the  mind  to  the  body.     The  mind  is  greater  than  the 


112  FAITH  A XD   LIFE 

body ;  the  body  changes  its  elements  and  finally  perishes, 
but  the  mind  remains  immortally  the  same.  Yet  the 
mind  dwells  in  the  body,  works  through  it,  and  is 
reached  by  it.  Or  we  may  illustrate  it  by  an  idea 
which  has  taken  possession  of  an  entire  people  and 
is  moulding  their  actions,  though  the  latter  are  intel- 
ligent and  free.  Both  illustrations  arc  partial — nothing 
can  fully  illustrate  God :  He  is  beyond  all  analogy. 
But  only  by  thus  thinking  of  Him  can  we  understand 
the  language  of  Scripture  and  give  to  Him  His  place 
as  both  the  supreme  governor  and  the  fundamental 
life  of  all  existence. 

On  this  view,  observe  the  ceaseless  activity  of  God. 
The  regularity  of  nature,  for  example,  is  as  much  the 
result  of  His  activity  as  any  miracle  can  be.  We 
observe  that  events  in  the  material  Avorld  take  place  in 
relation  to  one  another  according  to  a  certain  ordered 
succession  of  principles,  which  within  the  scope  of  our 
experience  are  invariable ;  and  these  principles  we  call 
the  laws  of  nature.  But  why  should  we  infer  that  they 
are  self-sustaining  ?  Why  should  we  not  conclude, 
since  so  many  arguments  convince  us  that  there  is  a 
God,  that  these  principles  are  the  methods  according  to 
which  He  has  determined  to  have  nature  work,  and  by 
which  He  works  in  nature,  in  order  that  human  life 
may  be  stable,  human  knowledge  advance,  and  the 
human  mind  learn  the  thoughts  and  will  of  its  Master? 
And  if  at  certain  times  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  us 


THE  KEEPER    OE  ISRAEL  I  I  3 

exceptional  truth,  He  has  seen  fit  to  work  according  to 
another  principle,  different  from  that  by  which  He 
usually  works,  and  has  produced  what  we  call  a 
miracle,  in  what  respect  has  He  been  more  active  in 
His  miraculous  than  in  His  customary  mode  and  rule 
of  working?  He  is  as  active  in  the  daily  sunlight  as 
when  around  the  cross  of  Calvary  the  noonday  sun 
was  quenched.  He  is  as  active  in  the  storm  and  wind 
as  when,  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  His  Son  bade  storm 
and  wind  to  cease.  He  is  as  active  in  supporting  the 
laws  by  which  we  get  from  the  soil  our  daily  food,  as 
when  He  caused  the  manna  to  fall  from  heaven.  He 
is  as  active  in  maintaining  the  daily  life  of  man  as  when 
Christ  brought  back  the  dead  Lazarus  to  conscious- 
ness. It  is  an  utter  mistake  to  allow  our  belief  in 
those  exceptional  events  which  we  call  miracles,  and  in 
which  we  certainly  ought  to  believe,  to  blind  us  to  the 
fact  of  God's  unsleeping  vigilance  in  the  support  of 
that  creation  which  derives  its  stability  from  His  un- 
changing will,  and  which,  in  a  true  sense,  may  be 
called,  as  Goethe  called  it  in  a  false  sense,  "  the  life 
garment  of  Deity." 

Thus  what  we  call  the  Providence  of  God  is  most 
real ;  and  it  does  not  in  the  least  conflict  with  the  ob- 
served laws  by  which  our  circumstances  are  affected. 
Every  human  being  finds  himself  in  a  network  of  forces 
with  which  he  has  to  deal  in  order  to  live,  and  from 
dependence  upon  which  he  cannot  escape.     He  must 


I  1 4  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

learn  how  to  live  in  view  of  these  circumstances,  for  he 
cannot  disregard  them.  He  must  use  food,  and  must 
discover  what  food  is  wholesome  and  what  is  not. 
If  he  expose  himself  to  contagion,  he  will  take  disease. 
If  he  fall  over  a  precipice,  he  will  be  crushed.  Only 
by  observing  and  obeying  the  laws  of  nature  can  his 
physical  life  continue.  Then,  too,  he  is  liable  to 
misfortunes  and  calamities  over  which  he  has  no 
control  and  which  seem  to  happen  wholly  without 
regard  to  his  deserts  or  moral  character.  A  railroad 
accident  is  as  likely  to  kill  a  good  man  as  a  bad  one, 
and  pestilence  will  strike  its  poison  into  the  veins  of 
the  saint  as  easily  as  into  those  of  the  sinner. 

In  view  of  these  facts  not  a  few  ridicule  the  idea 
of  Providence,  and  declare  that  no  particular  care  is 
exerted  by  God  over  the  fortunes  of  His  creatures. 
So  far  as  their  present  lives  are  concerned  He  is 
practically  asleep.  But  is  not  this  a  superficial  view  ? 
As  I  have  said,  the  laws  of  life  are  but  the  expression 
of  His  abiding  will — the  rules  which  He  has  appointed 
and  employs  in  order  that  man  may  be  educated  and 
trained.  For  Him  continually  to  break  these  rules 
would  be  to  make  our  moral  progress  impossible,  and 
to  keep  us  forever  helpless  children  instead  of  building 
us  up  into  intelligent  and  useful  men.  Yet  He  is 
touching  us  and  dealing  with  us  as  truly  when  He 
thus  governs,  as  though  we  felt  on  our  own  hand  the 
pressure   of   His.     If  He  refuses  to  exempt  us  from 


THE  KEETER    OE  ISRAEL  I  I  5 

calamity,  it  docs  not  follow  that  He  is  not  watchful 
of  us  or  is  unmindful  of  our  condition.  He  deems  it 
better  that  we  should  suffer  than  that  the  laws  which 
He  has  established  should  be  broken.  But  this  by  no 
means  proves  that  He  is  not  keeping  us  in  His  thought. 

Our  own  experience  shows  that  the  laws  and 
forces  of  the  external  world  can  be  so  manipulated 
by  their  Ruler  that,  without  breaking  any  one  of 
them,  specific  purposes  can  be  accomplished  by  them. 
One  law  offsets  another,  one  force  modifies  another, 
so  that  whereas  any  one  by  itself  would  destroy  us, 
the  whole  taken  together  maintain  our  lives.  As  the 
earth  is  held  in  its  orbit  by  two  opposite  forces,  the  one 
of  which  would  bury  it  in  the  molten  sun  and  the  other 
would  fling  it  into  frigid  space ;  so  in  countless  ways 
do  we  depend  for  our  very  existence  upon  the  inter- 
action of  established  forces.  And  if  a  finite  mind  can 
use  the  forces  of  nature,  combining  them  with  one 
another  and  setting  off  one  against  another,  so  as  to 
construct  an  ocean  steamer  or  a  telegraph,  it  does  not 
seem  unreasonable  to  believe  that  One  with  an  infinite 
mind  can  hold  in  His  hand  the  laws  which  He  has 
made,  and  can  so  combine  them  as,  without  violating 
one,  to  accomplish  an  equally  specific  end. 

But  be  it  never  forgotten  that  the  object  of  Provi- 
dence is  far  more  than  the  mere  preservation  of 
physical  life.  Its  prime  end  is  moral  training,  and  into 
that  training  the  duties  and  the  calamities  of  life  enter 


Il6  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

as  a  most  necessary  part.  God  may  be  caring  most 
tenderly  for  one  whom  He  allows  to  suffer.  He  may 
be  smoothing  the  brow  hot  with  fever  that  He  has 
allowed  to  burn.  We  dare  not  estimate  His  provi- 
dence by  mere  temporal  and  physical  good  and  ill ; 
these  have  their  place  in  it,  but  they  are  only  parts  co- 
operant  to  a  greater  end.  Though  we  be  poor  and 
needy,  though  we  be  overwhelmed  with  misfortune 
and  sorrow,  He  may  be  thinking  of  us  and  causing 
all  things  to  work  together  for  our  good.  The  mo- 
ment, therefore,  that  we  learn  to  think  of  physical 
laws  as  constantly  sustained  by  His  will ;  of  their 
interplay  as  in  accordance  with  His  purpose ;  of  their 
movement  as  the  manifestation  of  His  thought ;  it  is 
quite  possible  to  believe  in  Providence  and  yet  to 
recognize  the  system  under  which  we  are  placed. 
The  more  intricate  that  system,  the  more  complex  the 
network  of  circumstances,  the  more  marvellous  are 
its   disclosures  of  the  sleepless  activity  of  God. 

Therefore  we  insist  that  He  is  ever  active.  He 
never  slumbers,  He  never  sleeps.  Instead  of  nature 
being  a  self-evolving  machine  it  is  quivering  with  the 
thought  and  vitalized  by  the  presence  of  Deity.  It  is 
not  mere  poetry  to  say,  with  David,  that  the  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth 
His  handiwork;  or,  with  Wordsworth,  that — 

"  To  me  the  meanest  flower  that  blows  can  give 
Thoughts  that  do  often  lie  too  deep  for  tears." 


THE   KEEPER    OP  ISRAEL  WJ 

God  is  not  only  nature's  original  creator,  but  its  pres- 
ent master — the  power  back  of  it  and  revealed  in  it ; 
and  instead  of  human  life  being  the  haphazard  result  of 
weak  will  and  growing  reason  battling  against  iron-like 
and  blind  nature,  it  is  a  history  of  intended  progress 
wrought  out  under  the  superintendence  of  a  never 
absent  God — a  God  who  is  great  enough  to  control 
the  whole  vast  drama,  yet  so  great  as  to  keep  in  con- 
stant thought  each  one  of  the  millions  of  His  creatures. 
We  live  and  move  in  Him.  His  eyes  behold,  His  eye- 
lids try,  the  children  of  men.  We  are  at  all  times 
immediately  present  to  His  thought.  He  does  not 
have  to  come  down  from  heaven  to  help  us.  He  is  here 
already.  He  does  not  have  to  stop  the  machinery  of 
life  to  care  for  us.  He  is  working  in  that  machinery 
already.  His  will  is  sleepless.  His  knowledge,  His 
righteousness,  His  love  are  sleepless.  He  ever  lives — 
He  ever  works.  And  as  the  thought  grows  upon  the 
mind,  how  unspeakably  solemn  and  hopeful,  how  awful 
and  joyful,  does  life  become,  known  as  it  is  to  be 
ever  passed  under  His  open  eye,  in  His  almighty 
hand. 

The  thought  of  the  text  is  that  this  ever-active, 
ever-sleepless  God  is  particularly  engaged  in  caring 
for  His  trustful  people.  It  is  He  that  keepeth 
Israel.  The  Lord  is  thy  keeper.  He  is  thy  shade 
upon  thy  right  hand.  The  Lord  shall  preserve  thee 
from  all  evil.     He  shall  preserve  thy  soul.     There  is 


Il8  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

a  wonderful  richness  of  suggestion  in  the  many  times 
that  the  keeping  of  His  people  by  God  is  mentioned 
in  the  Scripture.  lie  said  to  Jacob,  "  I  am  with  thee  to 
keep  thee  in  all  places  whither  thou  goest";  and  we  feel 
quite  sure  that  if  God  had  not  kept  him,  Jacob  would 
have  fallen  a  victim  to  his  own  sinful  heart.  He  said  to 
Moses  for  Israel,  "  I  send  an  angel  before  thee  to  keep 
thee  by  the  way  and  to  bring  thee  into  the  place  which 
I  have  prepared."  And  how  He  fulfilled  that  promise 
to  the  wandering,  rebellious  tribes  every  reader  of  their 
history  knows.  But  the  Psalms  especially  abound 
in  this  phrase :  "  Keep  me  as  the  apple  of  the  eye " 
(xvii.  8) ;  "  Keep  back  Thy  servant  from  presumptuous 
sins"  (xix.  13);  "My  mercy,"  said  Jehovah,  "  will  I 
keep  for  him  forevermore"  (lxxxix.  28).  So  Isaiah  says, 
"  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is 
stayed  on  Thee."  Jeremiah  cries  in  pathetic  appeal 
for  the  people  to  repent :  "  He  that  scattered  Israel 
will  gather  him,  and  keep  him,  as  a  shepherd  doth  his 
flock"  (xxxi.  10).  While  our  blessed  Lord  Himself 
prayed  for  His  disciples,  "  Keep  them  from  the  evil " 
(John  xvii.  15).  All  these  passages,  and  many  more 
which  I  might  quote,  suggest  the  breadth  and  depth 
of  the  meaning  of  our  text :  "  He  that  keepeth  Israel 
shall  neither  slumber  nor  sleep." 

Notice,  it  is  Israel  whom  He  keeps.  It  is  true 
that  His  tender  mercies  are  over  all  His  works,  and 
that  His  government  and  providence  extend  over  all 


THE  KEEPER    OF  ISRAEL  II9 

creation  and  all  intelligent  minds.  But  the  specific 
object  of  His  solicitude  is  Israel,  and  by  that  term 
we  are,  of  course,  to  understand  the  multitude  of 
those  who  trust  and  love  Him.  It  is  to  be  used  in  no 
narrow  sense.  It  is  not  to  be  identified  with  any  par- 
ticular nation  or  any  particular  communion  ;  but  all 
those  who  turn  from  sin  and  seek  His  face,  all  those 
who  enter  into  personal  relations  of  faith  and  love  with 
Him,  are  to  be  accounted  the  special  objects  of 
His  sleepless  vigilance.  There  is  encouragement  in 
this  for  the  Church.  She  shall  not  fail  in  the  long 
war  with  sin  and  error.  Particular  churches  may 
change  and  pass  away,  but  the  Church  herself  shall 
prosper  to  the  end.  The  gates  of  Hades  shall  not  pre- 
vail against  her.  She  shall  be  disciplined  and  tried, 
purified  and  taught,  but  also  extended  and  enlarged 
until  she  embraces  in  her  fold  all  nations.  For  if  God 
exist  and  be  governing  the  world,  and  if  He  be  a 
God  of  holiness  and  of  love,  it  is  inconceivable  that  He 
should  guide  the  world  to  any  other  issue  than  the 
victory  of  truth  and  the  defeat  of  error.  As  we  work 
and  pray  in  the  cause  of  our  Lord  we  may  be  in- 
spired by  the  knowledge  that  the  truth  is  not  in  our 
keeping  and  the  cause  is  not  dependent  on  our  power, 
but  that  God  is  with  it  and  will   keep  it  safe. 

But  we  may  apply  the  text  more  specifically  to  in- 
dividual believers  ;  and  how  sweet  to  be  assured  that 
each    one   who   trusts    Him   will    discover   its    truth. 


120  FAITH  A. YD   LIFE 

He  will  keep  His  people  in  their  every-day  lives. 
Mark  how  the  Psalmist  describes  it :  "  He  shall 
not  suffer  thy  foot  to  be  moved."  In  this  slippery, 
perilous  journey  the  words  promise  what  every  self- 
distrustingf  Christian  feels  the  need  of.  He  shall 
preserve  thy  going  out  and  thy  coming  in.  The  least 
matters  are  not  beyond  His  reach.  Many  admit  that 
in  the  great  moral  issues  of  life  He  is  concerned,  but 
hesitate  to  believe  that  He  takes  note  of  trifles.  But 
trifles  make  up  the  great  issues,  as  the  sand  does  the 
seashore  or  the  drops  the  ocean.  Amid  these  He  has 
promised  to  lead  us,  making  the  way  in  which  we 
should  go  plain,  providing  those  things  which  He 
thinks  best  for  bodily  comfort  and  household  delight. 
He  does  not  promise  wealth,  or  fame,  or  greatness. 
But  He  will  keep  us :  we  shall  not  fall  if  we  obey  Him. 
And  it  is  worth  noting  that  when  we  have  tested  the 
matter  it  is  found  that  just  in  the  common  matters  of 
life  do  we  discover  the  most  signal  instances  of  God's 
faithful  care.  Here,  where  anxieties  are  often  so 
heavy,  may  we  roll  the  burden  of  them  off  on  Him 
who  careth  for  us.  Here,  where  the  better  life  is  so 
often  crushed  by  needless  loads  and  smothered  by  a 
heavy  atmosphere  of  worldly  worry,  is  the  place  for 
us  to  believe  in  God's  sleepless  vigilance  and  give  to 
the  winds  all  fears  and  doubts. 

But    He    will    do    more :     He    keeps    His    people 
from  all  evil.     How  dare  we  say  it,  when  sorrow  is 


THE   KEEPER    OE  ISRAEL  121 

the  portion  of  every  cup ;  when  temptation  is  the  lot 
of  every  life;  when  death  is  waiting  to  engulf  us  all? 
How  dare  we  say  it  ?  Why,  easily  enough.  If  we 
trust  and  follow  Him,  He  will  not  let  sin  obtain  a  hold 
upon  us.  He  is  able  to  keep  you  from  falling  and  to 
present  you  faultless  before  the  presence  of  His  glory. 
He  will  not  let  sorrow  be  an  evil,  but  will  make  of 
it  a  good  :  for  though  for  the  present  it  seemeth  to 
be  grievous,  yet  afterward  it  yieldeth  the  peaceable 
fruit  of  righteousness  unto  them  which  are  exercised 
thereby.  He  will  not  let  temptation  overcome  us,  but 
with  it  will  provide  a  way  of  escape  that  we  may  be 
able  to  bear  it.  And  when  death  comes,  it  will  be 
found  to  have  no  terrors,  but  to  be  a  welcome  into  life. 
Though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,  I  will  fear  no  evil :  for  Thou  art  with  me.  He 
does  not  say  that  He  will  keep  from  suffering  and 
from  sorrow  and  from  temptation  and  from  death. 
He  will  preserve  from  all  evil:  and  we  shall  find  that 
these  are  not  evils,  for  He  has  transformed  them  into 
blessings.     He  shall  preserve  thy  soul. 

Finally,  He  will  keep  His  people  to  the  end.  Did 
not  Jesus  say,  "  They  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall 
any  man  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand."  When  He 
prayed,  "Keep  them  from  the  evil,"  did  He  not  add, 
"I  will  that  they  may  be  with  me  where  I  am"?  Oh, 
how  helpless  we  are  in  this  mighty  world  of  force ! 
One  blow  of  its  ereat  hammers  and  we  are  dead.    And 


122  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

not  more  helpless  in  this  respect  than  in  respect  to 
greater  things  :  helpless  to  deliver  ourselves  from  sin  ; 
helpless  with  even  the  keenest  thought  to  pierce  into 
the  mystery  of  life  or  the  veiled  hereafter;  helpless 
to  attain  the  ideal  which,  like  a  summer  sunset,  shines 
above  the  hard  pathway  of  present  experience.  Surely 
we  need  God.  And  as  we  realize  His  sleepless  activity 
around  us  and  above  and  beneath  us ;  as  on  closer 
inspection  the  world  is  found  to  be  but  the  place 
where  He  would  dwell  with  us,  how  blessed  to  be 
told  that  He  will  be  our  keeper,  our  protector,  our 
helper,  our  friend,  even  forevermore  ! 

I  ask  you  to  put  yourselves  into  the  keeping  of 
this  God.  He  comes  to  you  in  Jesus.  Are  you  not 
already  convinced  of  your  unspeakable  need?  He 
will  keep  that  which  you  commit  to  Him.  Then 
commit  your  souls  to  Him.  Learn  to  trust  Him. 
Learn  to  pray  to  Him  and  to  follow  Him.  Then  fear 
not,  fear  not — not  the  world,  not  sin,  not  doubt,  nor 
your  own  feebleness.  He  will  keep  you;  and  the 
eternal  vigil  of  Him  on  whose  living  will  the  world 
reposes,  and  for  whom  nothing  is  too  great  to  do,  or 
too  small  to  be  beyond  His  notice,  will  be  your 
guarantee  that  you  shall  reach  the  goal.  Will  you 
not  trust  Him  ?  Will  you  not  commit  yourself  to 
Jesus  Christ?  Let  this  be  your  inspiration  to  do  so: 
"  He  that  keepeth  Israel  shall  neither  slumber  nor 
sleep." 


VII 

THE  FATHER  OF  THE  PRODIGAL 

"  But  when  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father  saw  him,  and  had 
compassion,  and  ran,  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him." — Luke 
xv.  20. 

We  often  study  the  parable  of  The  Prodigal  Son 
for  the  purpose  of  showing  how  faithfully  and  signifi- 
cantly Christ  portrayed  the  life  and  fortunes  of  the 
sinner.  But  perhaps  we  do  not  so  often  use  it  for 
the  purpose  of  studying  in  it  Christ's  representation 
of  God.  And  yet  this  must  have  been  the  main 
object  of  the  Saviour  when  He  told  this  matchless 
story.  It  was  far  more  important  that  He  should 
disclose  God  to  men  than  men  to  themselves.  The 
latter  disclosure  is  important  and  occupies  no  small 
place  in  the  revelation  of  Christ.  But  soaring  far 
beyond  it  in  importance  are  the  questions,  What  is 
God?  How  does  He  regard  us?  How  may  we  regard 
Him  ?  Christ's  statement  of  the  way  of  salvation 
turns,  therefore,  first  of  all  on  His  revelation  of  the 
Father. 

But  besides  this,  the  plan  of  His  discourse  on 
this  particular  occasion  was  to  show  to  the  Pharisees 
how  wrong  their  views  of  God  and  of  His  disposition 

123 


I  24  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

toward  men  were.  They  had  murmured  at  Him,  the 
professed  Messiah,  for  "  receiving  sinners  and  eating 
with  them."  This  seemed  to  them  abhorrent  to  the 
very  idea  of  the  holy  Christ  and  righteous  Jehovah. 
It  was  therefore  for  the  express  purpose  of  show- 
ing them  what  in  reality  was  God's  disposition  toward 
the  sinner  that  these  parables  were  spoken. 

He  begins  with  that  of  the  shepherd  who  has 
lost  one  sheep,  and  from  compassion  for  the  lost 
one,  leaves  the  ninety  and  nine  and  goes  after  that 
which  is  gone  astray.  The  Saviour  specially  brings 
out  the  shepherd's  joy  at  the  finding,  and  the  way 
in  which  he  summons  his  friends  to  share  it  with 
him.  So,  likewise,  he  adds,  is  there  joy  in  heaven 
over  one  sinner  that  repents  more  than  over  ninety 
and  nine  just  persons  who  need  no  repentance.  Then 
follows  the  parable  of  the  woman  who  has  lost  a 
coin,  and  who,  because  of  her  sense  of  loss  and  of  the 
value  of  the  coin,  searches  diligently  till  she  finds  it. 
In  this  was  taught  God's  valuation  of  the  sinful  soul; 
and  this  fact,  no  less  than  what  was  implied  by  her  joy 
at  finding  the  coin,  was  truly  a  new  revelation  of  God 
to  the  men  to  whom  Christ  spoke.  But  man  is  more 
than  a  sheep  or  a  coin — he  is  a  son.  And  the  Saviour 
dwelt  at  length  on  the  third  and  greatest  of  these 
parables,  that  by  His  accurate  description  of  man's 
wandering  He  might  bring  out  still  more  fully  God's 
marvellous  love. 


THE  FATHER    OF  THE   PRODIGAL  1 25 

This,  therefore,  was  the  main  purpose  of  the  par- 
able. The  other  figures  are  but  to  point  to  that 
of  the  Father.  He  is  the  one  on  whom  we  should 
chiefly  fix  our  gaze.  For  the  maxim,  "  Know  thyself," 
must  be  but  the  portal  of  another,  "  Know  thy  God." 
The  discovery  of  self  would  but  bring  torture  and 
sorrow  could  we  not  add  to  it  the  discovery  of  God. 
And  if  any  of  us  to-day  feel  that  in  any  particular  we 
are  represented  by  either  of  these  two  sons,  we  may 
appreciate  in  very  truth  this  delineation  of  God,  who 
is  the  sunlight  of  the  new  world  into  which  Jesus 
invites  us.  Let  me  call  your  attention,  then,  to  the 
character  of  God  portrayed  in  this  parable.  Notice, 
first  and  in  general,  its  representation  of  Him  as 
our  natural  and  most  affectionate  Father.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  in  this  word  the  representation  of  God  in 
these  three  parables  culminates.  Tender  as  the  re- 
lation between  a  shepherd  and  his  flock  often  was,  it 
was,  of  course,  far  below  that  of  a  father  and  a  son. 
Much  as  the  woman  may  have  valued  the  coin  which 
she  had  lost,  she  could  not  value  it  as  a  father  would  a 
child.  These  two  former  parables  do  but  present  pict- 
ures of  what  God  is  like  :  the  third  parable  describes 
what  He  actually  is.  And  it  is  so  far  above  them  in 
descriptive  power  that  while  Jesus  briefly  indicated  a 
point  or  two  of  meaning  in  them,  on  this  He  dwells  at 
length,  that  He  may  bring  out  fully  the  reality  and 
patience  of  God's  fatherhood.     But  not  only  did  these 


126  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

three  parables  culminate  in  the  representation  of  the 
fatherhood  of  God  ;  the  fact  is  that  this  was  the  distin- 
guishing feature  in  Christ's  general  portraiture  of  God; 
the  feature  most  distinctive  of  His  revelations ;  the 
feature  which  placed  God  in  a  new  splendor  before  the 
world,  which  drew  men  unto  Him  with  a  confidence 
and  love  which  had  seldom  been  known  before. 

Men  had  felt  before  the  majesty  of  God:  so  much  so, 
indeed,  that  they  had  supposed  it  impossible  for  Him 
to  stoop  to  the  real  care  of  His  creatures.  They  had 
felt  the  holiness  and  righteousness  of  God :  so  much 
so  that  they  deluged  the  earth  with  the  blood  of  sacri- 
fices slain  to  appease  His  anger.  The  intellect  had  felt 
its  way  to  the  apprehension  of  a  Great  First  Cause — 
of  an  Infinite  Absolute  Being,  the  source  of  all  things, 
and  perhaps  the  substance  of  all.  Yea,  men  had  felt 
feebly  the  love  of  God.  But  it  was  a  doubtful  and  cold 
affection,  or  else  it  was  so  placed  by  the  side  of 
His  holiness  that  the  two  seemed  to  issue  from  dif- 
ferent beings  or  at  least  not  to  fall  equally  upon  all. 
God  might  love  the  Jew,  but  He  hated  the  Gentile. 
He  might  love  the  good,  but  He  hated  the  bad. 

There  was  thus  wanting  a  view  of  God  in  which  all 
that  was  holy  and  majestic  was  conserved,  while  at 
the  same  time  He  was  perceived  as  lovable  and  near. 
Christ  supplied  it  in  saying  to  men  everywhere,  in  their 
sin  and  shame,  "  God  is  your  Father."  When  we  con- 
sider its  meaning,  how  marvellous  are  the  suggestions 


TJIE   FATHER    OF   THE   PRODIGAL  \2J 

of  this  term  !  What  hopes  it  raises  !  What  confidence 
it  creates  !  What  reality  it  gives  to  the  idea  of  the  Most 
High !  It  means  that  God  is  like  us — a  person,  intelli- 
gent, moral — because  we  are  like  Him.  It  means  that 
He  is  in  a  peculiar  sense  the  Author  of  our  being.  It 
means  that  He  is  our  provider,  our  educator,  and  the 
one  to  whom  we  owe  loving  obedience.  It  means, 
above  all,  that  He  loves  man  and  that  with  no  cold  or 
sentimental  affection,  but  in  such  wise  as,  only  more 
perfectly  than,  a  father  on  earth  loves  his  child — that 
He  loves  men  just  because  they  are  His  children,  in 
spite  of  their  waywardness  and  follies  and  disobedience, 
so  that  no  being  in  the  universe  grieves  more  over 
their  sorrows  or  their  sins  than  He  against  whom  their 
sins  are  committed.  This,  therefore,  is  the  crowning 
feature  of  Christ's  representation  of  God. 

It  is  true  that  men  had  oftentimes  before  Christ 
came  called  God  their  Father.  The  phrase  is  found  in 
nearly  all  ancient  religions.  It  was  not  the  word 
which  Christ  introduced,  but  the  full  idea  of  the  word. 
Men  had  used  it  as  a  term  of  dignity ;  Christ  taught 
them  to  use  it  also  in  its  natural  force  of  love.  I  quote 
from  Dr.  Storrs'  lectures  on  the  Divine  Origin  of  Chris- 
tianity the  remark  that  the  term  Father  as  applied  to 
God  among  pagan  peoples  "did  not  in  the  least  imply 
affectionate  paternity.  It  represented  supremacy  only ; 
it  was  applied  by  poets  to  those  whom  they  honored ; 
by   slaves   and   clients   to    master   and   patron.      But 


128  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

Christianity  shows  the  fatherhood  of  God  in  His  spirit 
of  love  as  well  as  in  His  authorship  of  finite  intelli- 
gences, extending  to  all  who  are  born  of  His  life  and 
becoming  intense  toward  those  who  seek  moral  fellow- 
ship with  Him.  To  them  He  gives  gifts  which  the 
mind  of  the  world  had  wholly  failed  to  attribute  to 
Him  or  to  conceive  possible  until  it  was  exalted  and 
instructed  by  Jesus." 

It  is  true,  also,  that  God  is  represented  in  the  Bible 
as  in  a  peculiar  sense  the  Father  specifically  of  His 
believing  people.  And  it  is  equally  true  that  there  are 
other  representations  of  God  in  the  Scriptures  which 
we  must  not  allow  to  fall  out  of  mind.  But  it  is  this 
general  representation  of  God  as  man's  real,  near, 
watchful,  holy,  approachable,  glorious  Father  which  we 
need  first  to  learn.  It  exalts  man ;  it  quickens  philan- 
thropy ;  it  glorifies  His  righteousness :  and,  as  it  is 
finally  revealed  in  the  sacrifice  of  His  eternal  Son  for 
us,  it  wakens,  as  nothing  else  can  be  conceived  to 
do,  responsive  love  and  ready  faith  and  joyous  hope  in 
sinful  hearts.  This  is  the  fundamental  truth  taught  in 
our  parable ;  and  only  with  it  as  a  background  can  we 
appreciate  the  particular  features  which  Christ  proceeds 
to  add  in  His  description  of  our  Divine  Parent. 

The  first  feature  brought  out  in  Christ's  descrip- 
tion of  the  Divine  Father's  character  is  perhaps  in 
appearance  rather  negative  and  unmarked,  but  none 
the  less  important.      Christ   represents,  you   observe, 


THE    FATHER    OF  THE   PRODIGAL  1 29 

this  father  as  allowing  his  son,  when  at  last  he  was 
of  age,  to  choose  and  act  for  himself.  He  divided  his 
living  between  the  two  brothers.  In  this  is  indicated 
very  clearly  God's  refusal  to  force  his  son  to  act 
against  his  will.  He  allows  man  to  wander  from  Him. 
No  doubt  the  father  of  the  parable  foresaw  the  prob- 
able consequences  of  his  younger  son's  determination. 
He  perceived  his  willfulness.  He  feared  its  results. 
But,  nevertheless,  he  allowed  him  to  leave  the  paternal 
roof  and  work  out  his  own  destiny.  He  was  a  free 
agent.  He  was  a  responsible  being.  He  must  learn 
by  experience  what  he  would  not  learn,  perhaps,  from 
his  father's  lips. 

Here,  then,  Christ  represents  to  us  God's  recog- 
nition of  man's  freedom  and  responsibility :  and  the 
fact  is  an  important  one  for  us  to  notice.  Connected 
with  the  view  of  God  as  our  Father,  the  thought 
becomes  natural  and  finds  additional  force.  This 
paternal  government  of  God's  is  not  merely  the 
authority  of  law ;  the  father  is  not  exactly  a  king, 
though  the  children  owe  him  as  much  obedience  as  if 
he  were.  But  he  does  not  desire  merely  to  rule.  He 
is  not  so  anxious  about  the  mere  maintenance  of  his 
authority.  He  desires  rather  to  cultivate  the  personal 
life  of  his  son,  to  bring  out  the  powers  that  are  in  him 
— to  make,  as  we  say,  a  man  of  him  ;  to  throw  him 
in  some  measure  on  himself,  and  to  make  him  feel  his 
own  freedom  and  responsibility. 


I30  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

I  think  that  this  conception  of  God  as  our  Father 
helps  to  explain  not  only  what  He  does  for  us,  but  also 
what  He  lets  us  do  for  ourselves.  The  father  is  funda- 
mentally a  trainer,  an  educator,  if  he  realizes  his  posi- 
tion ;  and  the  training  will  be  accomplished  not  by  mere 
restraint  and  exercise  of  authority,  for  so  the  soul  of 
the  son  would  be  but  clothed  with  the  raiment,  as  it 
were,  of  virtue.  The  plan  is  to  bring  out  the  sinner's 
own  life.  This  requires  love  and  patience  and  the 
recognition  of  freedom,  as  well  as  instruction  and 
authority ;  and  it  appears  to  me  that  the  reality  of 
God's  Fatherhood  is  most  appropriately,  though  inci- 
dentally, shown  when,  in  answer  to  this  son's  demand 
for  independence,  we  are  told  that  he  "divided  unto 
them  his  living."  He  did  not  send  him  forth  empty. 
He  was  ready  to  bestow  his  own  livelihood  that  his 
child  might  have  the  chance  of  making  use  of  it.  He 
was  not  so  anxious  to  keep  his  own  power  and  author- 
ity as  to  recognize  the  necessity  of  the  son's  working 
out  for  himself  his  life  and  destiny. 

But  be  that  as  it  may,  God's  recognition  of  man's 
freedom  and  responsibility  is  a  fact.  It  is  shown 
in  ways  precisely  similar  to  what  is  exhibited  in  this 
parable.  Here  are  the  children  of  God  on  earth, 
sinful  and  rebellious.  Here  they  are  trying  to  solve 
for  themselves  the  problems  of  life  and  duty — seem- 
ingly thrown  on  their  own  resources ;  compelled  to 
discover,    often  by  a   bitter   experience,    the   miseries 


THE  FATHER    OF   THE    PRODIGAL  131 

of  sin  and  the  rewards  of  righteousness.  What  is  the 
meaning  of  this  seemingly  independent  life  of  men, 
with  its  awful  perils  and  mistakes,  its  many  falls  and 
sorrows,  its  slow,  toilsome  learning  of  the  truth  ? 
Does  it  mean  that  God  does  not  care  for  men  ?  Not  by 
any  means,  for  He  has  revealed  to  them  His  will  in  a 
most  stupendous  way.  Does  it  mean  that  God  could 
not  help  man's  fall — that  He  had  not  power  to  keep  His 
child  at  home  ?  Surely  that  cannot  be.  It  evidently 
means  that  He  has  chosen  to  throw  on  man's  shoulders, 
in  some  sense,  the  burden  of  his  own  destiny:  He  has 
bidden  him  use  his  freedom  ;  He  has  permitted  him, 
much  as  the  result  grieves  Him,  to  wander  and  rebel, 
that  so  the  human  race  might  discover  through  its 
own  experience  its  need  of  God  ;  might  render  Him 
in  the  end  a  willing  service ;  might  be  won  by  God's 
love  and  by  the  truth  itself,  rather  than  manufactured 
without  its  own  will  into  what  pleased   God. 

You  see  that  this  throws  at  least  some  light  on  dark 
problems,  and  brings  out  most  vividly  the  character  of 
the  divine  Father.  It  suggests  a  reason  why  He  con- 
ceals Himself  from  physical  sight ;  why  He  gives  so  large 
occasion  for  doubt,  and  hence  for  thought  and  search- 
ing after  Him ;  why  even  in  His  revelation  of  Himself 
in  His  Son  he  took  an  unlikely  form ;  why,  in  short,  He 
does  not  constrain  belief  and  force  obedience.  Man  is 
a  free  agent,  a  responsible  being ;  he  is  to  work  out 
through  his  own  life  the  decision   of  truth  and  dutv, 


132  FAITH  AND    LIFE 

that  in  the  end,  if  so  be  he  attain  to  it,  he  may  stand 
before  his  Father  with  a  sympathy  and  an  appreciation 
and  a  sense  of  truth  and  holiness  which  he  could  not 
have  had  save  by  finding  them  out  for  himself. 

Be  it  remembered  that  this  does  not  imply  that 
the  Father  leaves  His  children  without  watch  or 
care ;  that  He  gives  them  no  help  and  guides  them 
by  no  paternal  power.  That,  in  its  turn,  would  be  as 
unfatherly  as  its  opposite.  It  is  purposely  to  guide 
and  educate :  while  He  would  throw  us  on  our  own 
responsibility,  He  also  stands  near,  though  unseen,  to 
assist  us  if  we  call  upon  Him.  But  He  certainly  does 
recognize  our  freedom  and  our  individual  obligations, 
and  the  necessity  that  our  attainment  and  conclusions 
should  be  really  our  own  work,  as  well  as  His  gift. 
And  thereby  He  lays  on  every  child  the  responsibility 
of  acting  out  the  life,  if  he  would  enjoy  the  privileges, 
of  a  child  of  God. 

Hence,  notice  again,  the  father's  patient,  though  no 
doubt  anxious,  waiting  for  his  younger  son's  return. 
The  parable  follows  the  course  of  the  prodigal.  It 
depicts  in  a  kw  strong  phrases  his  downward  career; 
his  waste  of  the  father's  gifts ;  his  poverty ;  his  misery ; 
his  final  degradation.  Then  it  relates  his  bitter  self- 
discovery.  He  comes  to  himself,  and  in  that  far 
country  he  remembers  the  happy  and  plenteous  life 
of  his  early  home.  At  last  he  is  penitent,  and  he  re- 
solves to  confess  his  failure  and  humbly  to  take  his 


THE   FATHER    OF  THE   PRODIGAL  1 33 

place  as  a  servant  in  the  house  where  once  he  was  a 
master.  How  thrilling  is  this  description !  In  every 
phrase  we  see  a  mirror  reflecting  some  phase  of  life 
about  us — perhaps  of  our  own.  But  meanwhile,  what 
of  the  father  ?  The  silence  of  the  parable  about  him 
is,  I  conceive,  as  suggestive  as  its  description  of  the 
son.  He  is  waiting.  Do  you  think  he  has  forgotten 
his  absent  son  ?  His  subsequent  conduct  proves  that 
he  has  not.  He  is  looking  for  his  return  all  the  while. 
He  is  waiting  until  the  foolish  experience  of  sin  shall 
have  been  finished,  all  the  while  yearning  for  the 
empty  place  to  be  filled,  hearing  perhaps  reports  of  his 
son's  shame  and  sin,  but  patiently  expecting  the  time 
of  his  return. 

Now  it  should  be  carefully  remembered  that  while 
this  representation  of  God  is  true,  it  is  not  all  the 
truth.  It  puts  before  us  that  attitude  in  which  we 
see  the  Father,  in  which  He  seems  to  us ;  although 
elsewhere  in  Scripture  we  are  distinctly  taught  that 
the  Father  does  not  wait  for  the  sinner  to  return,  but 
goes  out  into  the  far  country  to  seek  and  to  call.  But 
there  are  many  things  in  the  divine  action  of  which 
we  may  not  be  aware.  There  is  an  unconscious  side 
to  life.  We  are  told  by  the  apostle  to  work  out  our 
salvation,  knowing  all  the  while  that  God  is  working 
in  us.  We  know  that  He  is  working  in  us,  but  we  are 
not  conscious  of  it.  And  so  with  this  prodigal  in  his 
shame.     He  came  to  himself,  we  are  told.     But  was 


134  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

that  all  ?  Do  you  think  there  was  no  inaudible  voice 
in  his  ear — no  unknown  influence  moving  on  his 
heart?  Most  certainly  there  was.  Unknown  to  him, 
the  father  was  with  him  ;  that  new  impulse  and  reso- 
lution were  the  father's  call,  his  returning  strength 
was  the  father's  spirit,  and  the  ultimate  fact  was 
that  before  he  had  taken  one  step  toward  the  old 
paternal  roof  he  had  been  taken  in  the  arms  of  his 
father  and  was  being  borne  home.  Still,  I  say,  he 
knew  it  not,  and  the  object  of  the  parable  is  to  set 
forth  that  which  appears  to  the  consciousness  of  men. 
So  far  as  any  outward  manifestation  is  concerned,  God 
waits.  So  far  as  they  can  see  or  are  aware,  He  is  far 
from  them  and  they  are  far  from  Him.  He  conceals 
Himself.  He  lets  them  go  their  way.  But  no  matter 
how  far  they  may  have  wandered  or  how  low  they 
may  have  sunk,  He  is  watching,  He  is  waiting,  for 
their  return. 

I  am  very  sure  that  no  representation  of  God 
can  be  better  news  than  this  to  a  sinning  world. 
God  has  not  disinherited  His  wayward  sons.  He  has 
not  decreed  that  they  should  not  return.  He  has  not 
forbidden  the  wanderer's  name  to  be  mentioned,  or 
declared  that  He  will  not  be  reconciled.  He  does  not 
have  to  be  reconciled  at  all,  so  far  as  His  heart  is  con- 
cerned. He  is  simply  waiting.  Oh,  the  forbearance 
of  God  !  Think  how  slow  the  race  has  been  in  coming 
to  itself,  how  impious  have  been  its  blasphemies,  how 


THE   FATHER    OF   THE   PRODIGAL  1 35 

shameful  its  sins,  how  black  its  rebellion !  God  is  no 
name,  or  shadow,  or  heartless  law.  He  is  a  person  ; 
He  is  a  Father;  and  do  you  not  think  that  He  must 
feel  unutterable  sorrow  over  the  persistent  self-exile 
and  ruin  of  these  millions  of  His  sons  ?  And  yet  no 
thought  has  He  of  repelling  them ;  and  when  we  do 
come  to  ourselves,  methinks  our  sharpest  pang  must 
be  in  the  thought  that  we  have  trespassed  on  His 
patient  long-suffering  through  so  many,  many  wasted, 
ungrateful  years. 

And  now  we  are  brought  to  the  culminating  glory 
in  Christ's  description  of  the  Father  as  seen  in  His 
reception  of  the  sinner.  As  I  remarked  at  the  be- 
ginning, this  was  the  main  object  of  our  Lord  in  the 
parable.  Men  had  murmured  at  His  receiving  sinners: 
He  would  show  how  the  Father  receives  them.  Men 
had  sneered  at  Him  for  eating  with  the  unclean :  He 
would  show  how  the  Father  welcomes  such  to  His 
festal  board.  Here  the  description  of  the  father  be- 
comes more  animated.  Waiting  and  watching  as  he 
was,  he  does  not  even  have  to  be  told  of  his  son's 
return.  Has  he  not  all  the  while  been  calling  him? 
Did  he  not  see  the  first  impulse  to  return  when  it 
sprang  into  the  mind  of  the  prodigal  ?  Has  he  not 
been  watching  him  all  the  way?  Men  perhaps  knew 
not  whither  that  ragged  outcast  was  journeying;  why 
his  look  was  so  eager  and  at  the  same  time  so  sad ; 
why  he   gazed   so   shamefacedly  at   his   tattered   gar- 


136  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

merits.  And  men  may  likewise  not  know  on  what 
great  end  the  soul  of  another  is  bent — the  mystery  of 
his  conviction  of  sin  and  his  heavenward  look  they 
may  not  appreciate,  or,  if  any  do,  they  may  predict 
that  such  as  he  will  never  be  received.  But  not  so  the 
father.  He  saw  and  welcomed  the  prodigal  before  he 
was  yet  in  sight,  and  when  he  was  a  great  way  off  he 
saw  him  and  lo ! — mark  you,  scoffing  Pharisee,  mark 
you,  trembling,  doubting  sinner — lo!  he  ran  and  fell 
on  his  neck  and  kissed  him.  Hearer,  remember  that 
Jesus  is  illustrating  God  to  us !  There  is  something 
almost  daring  in  this  description:  were  it  not  a  revela- 
tion it  would  be  almost  impious  to  imagine  God  thus 
portrayed!  The  Infinite  and  Holy  thus  falling  on  the 
neck  of  an  outcast !  What  boldness  of  thought ! 
What  audacity  of  description !  Yet,  I  submit,  that 
no  one  has  ever  come  out  of  the  ruin  of  sin  and  has 
sought,  through  Christ,  the  injured  Face,  but  he  has 
experienced  that  which  justifies  Christ's  language 
and  which  makes  this  scene  of  the  parable  mighty 
enough,  through  its  revelation  of  love,  fairly  to  change 
the  world ! 

And  so  mark  the  cordial  welcome  home.  God  com- 
mands us  to  repent  and  to  confess  our  sins,  and  the 
prodigal  did  so.  But  God's  purpose  in  so  requiring  is 
not  to  mortify  us  by  upbraiding ;  for  when  our  sins  are 
confessed  He  remembers  them  no  more.  He  does 
not,  according  to  this   parable,  speak    one   word    of 


THE   FATHER    OF   THE   PRODIGAL  1 37 

reproach,  much  as  that  was  deserved  and  might  have 
been  expected.  Instead  of  this  He  proceeds  to  make 
His  child  fit  for  His  dwelling-place,  and  to  adorn  him 
in  a  manner  becoming  His  son.  What  if  the  poor 
prodigal  had  waited  until  he  could  have  made  a  pre- 
sentable appearance  ?  Many  a  sinner  does  so  and  finds 
himself,  after  years  of  waiting,  as  unpresentable  as  ever. 
Fortunately  for  him,  this  prodigal  came  home  just  as 
he  was,  asking  only  to  be  taken  as  a  servant,  to  be 
saved  from  his  self-destruction,  and  the  father  made 
him  fit.  "  Bring  forth  the  best  robe  and  put  it  on 
him ;  and  put  a  ring  on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his 
feet."      This  is   God's   welcome  to  the  sinner. 

The  words  make  us  instantly  think  of  the  robe  of 
righteousness — the  seamless,  matchless  robe  of  Christ  in 
which  God  will  clothe  the  penitent — the  ring  by  which 
He  will  seal  the  soul's  eternal  marriage  with  Jesus  Christ 
— the  preparation  of  the  Gospel  of  Peace  with  which 
his  feet  will  be  shod.  The  description  means  that  God 
will  perfectly  restore  us  to  our  place  in  His  home  as 
He  has  also  had  us  in  His  heart.  He  will  declare  that 
for  Christ's  sake  we  are  justified.  He  will  declare  that 
our  sins  and  our  iniquities  shall  be  remembered  no 
more.  He  will  confer  upon  us  all  the  privileges  of  the 
sons  of  God.  Always  sons  by  nature,  He  will  make 
us  sons  by  redemption  and  holiness.  We  shall  be 
received  into  the  family  and  entitled  to  all  the  privileges 
as  if  we  never  had  sinned  against   Him. 


138  FA  III  I  AND   LIFE 

And  what  is  the  reason  of  this  divine  love  and  joy? 
The  Pharisees  could  not  understand  it,  and  in  the  elder 
brother,  who  likewise  felt  no  such  rejoicing,  they  are 
pictured.  He  was  angry  at  the  favor  shown  to  the  re- 
turning outcast,  and  he  remonstrated,  dwelling  on  the 
sins  of  the  prodigal — his  wasted  fortunes,  his  shameful 
life.  He  would  not  have  received  him  ;  or,  at  the  most, 
would  have  given  him  a  servant's  place.  But  mark  the 
father's  answer  :  "  This  my  son  was  dead  and  is  alive 
again  ;  he  was  lost,  and  is  found."  The  word  express 
God's  valuation  of  a  soul.  Not  merely  as  the  shepherd 
loved  his  lost  sheep,  nor  as  the  woman  valued  her  lost 
coin,  but  with  the  love  of  a  father  to  a  child — part  of 
his  own  being — does  God  regard  the  sinner.  To  Him 
sin  loses  us,  we  are  lost  to  Him,  we  are  dead  to  Him. 
It  is  not  merely  that  we  are  without  Him,  but  that  He 
is  without  us.  That  was  the  source  of  this  father's  joy 
in  the  welcome,  and  it  is  the  source  of  God's.  He 
knows  the  value  of  our  souls.  He  knows  how  bottom- 
less is  the  pit  of  ruin  into  which  we  are  almost  ready 
to  fall.  He  knows  what  life  is.  And  He,  it  would 
seem,  feels  in  a  sense  incomplete ;  the  family  circle 
seems  broken  and  wanting  so  long  as  we  are  away. 

So  God's  word  is  throbbing  with  this  strange,  un- 
utterable love,  and  by  it  I  am  justified  in  trying  to  tell 
you  to-day  how  even  the  Most  High  longs  for  fellow- 
ship with  you.  Is  it  not  strange?  Who  would  have 
dared  to  have  said  it  but  Christ?     Can  we  enrich  God? 


THE  FATHER    OF  THE  PRODIGAL  1 39 

Can  we  add  to  His  felicity  ?  No,  no  ;  and  yet,  yes ; 
since,  having  begotten  us,  He  wants  our  love;  having 
made  us  for  Himself,  He  longs  for  our  presence. 
Oh,  men  may  well  stand  amazed  at  Christ's  revela- 
tion of  the  Father!  No  abstruse  proof,  no  cold, 
majestic,  philosophic  conception.  It  is  no  empty 
name.  He  has  made  God  the  sun  in  our  sky,  the 
center  of  our  souls.  He  has  presented  Him,  personal, 
near,  loving,  patient,  long-suffering.  He  was  always 
such :  but  Christ  has  shown  Him  to  us  more  plainly, 
and  we  have  only  to  listen  to  Christ  to  know  as  never 
could  have  been  known  otherwise,  the  marvellous,  un- 
limited, yea,  passionate  love  of  God !  Surely  none  of 
you  can  face  this  picture  unmoved  !  Surely  no  prod- 
igal here,  no  elder  brother  either,  can  gaze  with  heart 
unmelted !  He  calls  you,  sinner ;  He  is  waiting,  the 
robe  is  ready :  will  you  come — will  you  come  ?  Oh, 
with  such  a  God,  who  would  choose  ungodliness  ? 
With  such  a  Father,  who  would  choose  exile  from 
home?  This  picture  of  Christ  is  the  vivid  portraiture 
of  what  Saint  Paul  meant  when  he  was  ready  almost 
to  lay  himself  at  the  sinner's  feet  and  say,  "  We  are 
ambassadors  for  Christ,  as  though  God  did  beseech 
you  by  us ;  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye 
reconciled  to  God."  Behold  thy  waiting  Father,  son 
of  God  !     Come,  arise  to-day ;  come  home  ! 


VIII 

WORKING  OUT  SALVATION 

"  Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling.  For  it  is 
God  which  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleas- 
ure."— Philippians  ii.  12,  13. 

I  think  that  we  are  sometimes  misled  in  our  inter- 
pretation of  this  familiar  text  by  attaching  an  incor- 
rect notion  to  its  two  opening  words.  To  a  hasty- 
reader  they  imply  that  the  safety  of  the  soul  can 
never  be  attained  until  the  end  of  life.  They  may  even 
seem  to  some  to  contradict  the  idea  of  salvation 
through  faith,  of  immediate  salvation  on  the  ground 
of  Christ's  merits,  which  is  the  common  teaching 
both  of  Paul  and  of  the  other  apostles.  They 
appear  to  throw  back  on  our  feeble  shoulders  the 
burden  of  our  own  redemption ;  and  while  they 
add  the  encouragement  of  God's  cooperation  with  us, 
they  yet  seem  to  leave  out  of  sight  the  complete 
salvation  of  the  soul  in  Jesus  Christ.  Not  a  few,  I 
imagine,  have  hastily  cited  these  words  as  somewhat 
inconsistent  with  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith. 

But  the  difficulty  arises  simply  from  a  misunder- 
standing of  the  words  "work  out";  and    perhaps  I 

can  best  express  the  wrong  and  the  right  view  by  an 

141 


142  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

illustration.  Let  us  suppose  a  slave  offered  his  liberty 
on  condition  that  he  accomplish  a  certain  amount  of 
work.  This  will  illustrate  the  mistaken  view  of  our 
text.  The  slave  is  to  work  out  his  freedom.  He  may 
have  encouragements.  His  master  may  even  give 
him  assistance.  But  his  freedom  is  to  be  the  reward 
of  his  own  exertions.  He  will  pay  for  it  by  his  own 
toil.  He  will  work  it  out  in  the  sense  of  securing 
it  as  the  wages  of  years  of  labor.  If  this  were 
the  sense  in  which  we  are  to  work  out  our  salva- 
tion, it  would  be  obvious  that  we  have  a  hard  task 
upon  our  hands,  and  that  if  ever  we  gain  freedom  we 
shall  have  good  reason  to  compliment  ourselves. 

But  let  us  suppose  the  case  of  a  slave  emancipated 
by  his  master,  given  his  full  liberty  at  once  ;  and  then 
directed,  both  for  the  sake  of  gratitude  to  his  liberator 
and  for  the  sake  of  his  own  self-development,  to  prove 
himself  worthy  of  freedom.  He,  too,  is  now  to  work 
out  his  liberty :  but  not  in  the  sense  of  procuring  it, 
but  in  the  sense  of  bringing  out  that  which  is  in  it,  of 
using  it  well,  of  applying  himself  so  as  to  enjoy  his 
new  privileges.  He  is  to  prove  himself  really  free  by 
manifesting  self-control ;  by  securing  employment  and 
culture;  by  making  his  own  the  blessings  and  the 
prerogatives  of  freedom.  Legally  free,  he  is  to  work 
out  a  freeman's  life,  that  he  may  manifest  to  others  and 
himself  enjoy  both  the  rights  and  the  duties  which 
pertain  to  his  new  condition. 


WORKING    OUT  SALVATION  1 43 

This  latter  case  will  illustrate,  I  believe,  the  sense  in 
which  we  are  to  work  out  our  salvation.  We  may 
have  it  at  once  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus.  No  one 
teaches  this  more  plainly  than  Paul.  Jesus  secured 
our  needed  emancipation.  We  are  free  from  con- 
demnation. We  have  passed  from  death  unto  life. 
We  are  no  more  the  possession  of  Satan,  but  the 
accepted  children  of  God.  We  are  reconciled  to 
God  by  the  death  of  His  Son,  and  our  first  need  is  to 
realize,  in  all  its  wonderful  meaning,  the  liberty  where- 
with Christ  has  made  us  free.  Having  this  posses- 
sion, we  are  to  work  it  out  to  its  consummation. 
Having  it  legally,  we  are  to  work  it  out  practically. 
Having  it  in  the  germ,  we  are  to  work  out  in  our  lives 
all  its  tendencies  and  consequences. 

And  this  is  to  be  an  individual  matter.  Each  one  is 
to  work  out  his  salvation  for  himself.  Each  one  stands 
in  an  individual  relation  to  Christ.  Each  one  has  indi- 
vidually believed  and  individually  lives.  And  so,  indi- 
vidually, we  are  to  weave  into  the  fabric  of  our  own 
lives,  as  that  grows  with  the  years,  the  pattern  which 
God  has  given  us ;  we  are  each  to  work  it  out,  as  the 
skilled  workman  may  work  out  in  wood  or  metal  the 
idea  which  lies  already  fully  formed  within  his  mind. 
We  are  not  to  work  for  life,  but,  as  it  were,  from  life,  as 
being  those  who  already  have  it  and  who  are  resolved, 
by  divine  grace,  to  experience  all  that  life  implies. 
Just  as  God  Himself  works  out  in  the  history  of  crea- 


144  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

tion  His  primeval  thought,  that  thought  which  before 
the  first  creative  word  was  uttered  already  embraced 
in  itself  every  moment  of  history,  and  every  atom  of 
existence,  so  are  we  in  the  sphere  of  Christ  Jesus,  in 
whom  potentially  we  have  all  things,  to  work  Christ 
out  with  fear  and  trembling  into  the  actual  being, 
thought  and  character  of  our  souls. 

With  this  understanding  of  the  text,  let  us  take, 
in  turn,  the  chief  elements  of  which  our  salvation 
consists  and  consider  how  they  are  to  be  worked  out 
to  their  proper  results. 

First,  our  salvation  consists  in  the  enlightenment  of 
our  minds  by  the  saving  truths  of  the  Gospel,  and 
therefore  we  are  to  work  these  truths  into  the  actual 
fabric  of  our  lives.  A  man  becomes  a  Christian  in  part 
through  the  personal  apprehension  of  certain  practical 
truths.  Those  truths  are  old  in  that  they  have  been 
known  in  the  world  from  the  beginning  of  Christian 
history;  they  have  been  formulated  into  dogmas  and 
creeds ;  they  have  been  expressed  in  the  hymns  and 
prayers  of  the  Church  of  all  ages ;  they  have  become 
the  familiar  commonplaces  of  religion.  Yet  to  each 
man  they  are  new,  in  that,  in  becoming  himself  a 
Christian,  he  feels  their  force  for  the  first  time.  To 
him  it  is  as  if  they  had  just  been  revealed.  They  are 
practically  a  new  discovery  to  him.  They  have  power 
over  his  mind.  They  have  a  vital  meaning  for  the 
first  time.     It  has  been  said  that  genius  is  shown  by 


WORKING    OUT  SALVATION  1 45 

making  fresh  what  is  familiar.  Some  of  the  greatest 
discoveries  of  science  have  consisted  in  the  perception 
of  what  really  lay  in  the  commonest  and  best  known 
facts.  Truth  is  all  about  us  :  and  the  discoverer  or 
the  poet  but  catches  a  glance,  through  facts  with  which 
all  are  familiar,  into  the  realm  of  ideas  and  forces 
which  have  always  existed  in  the  facts,  but  which 
ordinary  eyes  have  not  seen.  So  the  believer  is  a 
discoverer ;  and  the  new  light  which  he  now  per- 
ceives for  the  first  time  is  practically  to  him  a  reve- 
lation. 

What  these  saving  truths  are  I  need  not  rehearse. 
They  are  not  many.  They  are  all  closely  connected 
with  each  other.  They  are  so  related  that  when  the 
mind  has  felt  one,  it  must  needs  feel  the  others  also. 
Foremost  of  them  is  the  reality  of  God ;  His  personal 
presence  ;  His  authority  and  His  power ;  His  right- 
eousness and  His  holiness.  Closely  united  with  this 
there  is  the  .sense  of  man's  sin — of  his  alienation  from 
God — and,  therefore,  his  need  of  repentance  and  par- 
don. Now  these  two  truths  merge  in  the  perception 
of  what  in  reality  Christ  is,  what  He  signifies  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind  :  that  God  has  manifested  Himself  in 
the  person  of  Christ  and  that  we  may  have  redemp- 
tion through  Christ's  name.  This  is  to  human  minds 
as  the  light  of  the  sun.  It  carries  with  it  a  thrilling 
perception  of  what  God  is  and  what  we  are :  that  faith 
is  our  duty,  love  our  life,  and  heaven  our  hope.     God 

10 


I46  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

has  shined  into  our  hearts  to  bring  the  light  of  the 
knowledge  of  His  glory  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Certainly,  although  this  perception  of  Christ  is 
enough  to  alter  a  man's  whole  view  of  life,  the  truth  is 
very  imperfectly  apprehended  by  him.  Even  so,  how 
little  he  knows  of  God !  How  little  he  understands  of 
the  cross  itself!  He  must  feel  that  this  Sun  which  has 
risen  upon  him  with  healing  in  its  wings  is  yet  full  of 
mystery.  Of  its  past  history  and  of  its  present  nature 
he  knows  scarcely  anything,  while  beyond  the  circle  in 
which  it  moves  and  from  which  its  beams  fall  upon  him 
the  vast  unmeasured  distances  of  space  assure  him  that 
secrets  of  which  he  knows  nothing  but  the  fact  of 
their  existence  await  further  illumination.  Only  he 
knows  that  he  has  enough  light  to  walk  and  work  and 
live  by.  He  must  feel  as  I  suppose  one  would  feel 
who  has  discovered  some  mechanical  principle  which 
solves  for  him  a  knotty  problem  by  which  he  has 
been  vexed,  but  the  further  application  and  the  inner- 
most meanings  of  which  are  as  yet  unsolved. 

Nevertheless,  he  is  enlightened,  and  now,  yield- 
ing with  joy  to  the  discovery  he  has  made,  he  is  im- 
pelled to  work  out  to  all  its  legitimate  consequences 
the  saving  truth  of  the  Gospel.  It  will  never  do 
to  stop.  Truth  is  realized  only  when  it  is  embodied 
and  worked  out  in  some  material.  As  a  theory 
it  is  but  a  cloud  driven  by  the  winds.  The  cloud 
must    descend    and    enter    into    the    structure    of  the 


WORKING    OUT  SALVATION  I47 

world,  and  the  truth  must  enter  into  living  expression. 
And  the  natural  material  which  such  truths  as  these 
of  the  Gospel  seek  is  the  human  soul.  In  its  life  truth 
is  to  become,  as  it  were,  incarnate.  Take  any 
political  theory  as  an  illustration.  You  know  that 
it  is  realized  only  by  being  worked  out  in  the  fortunes 
of  a  people.  Only  so  can  its  real  worth  appear.  Only 
so  can  the  truth  and  the  error  in  it  be  separated. 
Only  so  can  its  mission  be  fulfilled.  Otherwise  it  will 
evaporate  and  disappear.  Or  take  any  scientific  truth. 
You  know  that  it  is  discovered  as  a  fact  in  actual 
operation.  The  object  of  science  is  to  ascertain  what 
is  working  in  the  natural  world,  and  this  is  but  another 
way  of  ascertaining  how  the  Creator  is  working  out 
the  principles  which  He  impressed  upon  the  world. 

I  was  deeply  impressed  by  an  anecdote  once  re- 
lated by  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  Hodge,  of  that  dis- 
tinguished scientist,  Professor  Joseph  Henry.  As  a 
young  man  Dr.  Hodge  was  Professor  Henry's  assistant 
in  making  his  experiments.  He  says  :  "  I  can  well  re- 
member the  wonderful  care  with  which  he  arranged  all 
his  principal  experiments.  Then  often,  when  the  testing 
moment  came,  that  holy  as  well  as  great  philosopher 
would  raise  his  hand  in  adoring  reverence  and  call 
upon  me  to  uncover  my  head  and  worship  in  silence. 
'  Because,'  he  said,  '  God  is  here  :  I  am  about  to  ask 
God  a  question.' "  Surely,  that  was  the  right  spirit 
of    scientific   inquiry — none   the   less  exact  for  being 


148  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

religious — and  it  went  upon  the  idea  that  God  is 
working  out  in  nature  His  own  thought  and  plan. 
So,  I  say,  truth  is  to  be  embodied — worked  out  into 
the  material  of  our  lives :  and  the  Christian,  beintx 
once  enlightened,  is  to  work  out  his  salvation  with 
fear  and   trembling. 

I  could  take  each  of  the  revealed  truths  of  the  Gos- 
pel and  show,  in  part  at  least,  how  it  is  to  be  thus 
wrought  out.  Take,  for  example,  the  truth  of  the  Incar- 
nation. It  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  mere  mystery 
without  moral  bearing  upon  our  lives.  It  was  the  cul- 
mination in  Scripture  history  of  the  truth  which  had 
been  formerly  taught  to  Enoch  when  he  walked 
with  God,  and  afterward  to  Israel  by  tabernacle  and 
temple  in  which  Jehovah  dwelt.  It  reveals  the  possi- 
bility, I  mean,  of  the  indwelling  of  God  in  and  among 
men.  Worked  out  by  the  believer,  it  results  in  a 
sense  of  divine  nearness  and  likeness  which  make  the 
whole  world  radiant  with  divine  presence.  It  results 
in  the  sense  of  God  in  us — Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of 
glory,  our  bodies  the  temples  of  God  by  the  Spirit : 
and  thus,  in  the  growing  consciousness  of  union  and 
communion  on  earth  with  the  Father  and  the  Son. 
I,  too,  am  a  son  of  God,  and  this  carries  with  it  a  view 
of  privilege  and  duty,  of  inheritance  and  possession,  of 
expanding  life  and  eternal  glory  before  which  the  mind 
fails  as  the  eye  before  the  sunbeams,  and  can  but  wait 
for  time  to   unfold  the   unspeakable   reality. 


WORKING    OCT  SALVA7 VOX  1 49 

This  must  suffice  as  an  example.  You  may  take 
each  truth  of  the  Gospel  and  similarly  work  out  its 
logic  in  your  life.  It  will  not  be  bare  logic,  but  living 
experience,  growing  knowledge.  God  means  His  word 
thus  to  be  wrought  into  His  new  creation  ;  therefore, 
perhaps,  it  was  that  He  revealed  Himself  not  as  an 
abstract  truth,  but  as  a  life,  the  Word  made  flesh — 
that  as  out  of  nature  the  student  gathers  part  of  God's 
thought,  so  out  of  Christ  he  might  gather  more.  Thus 
as  the  student  reapplies  what  he  has  discovered,  so  are 
we  to  reapply  in  our  lives  wrhat  we  discern  from 
Christ's.  God  does  not  wish  His  truth  to  return  to  Him 
as  it  came  forth,  any  more  than  the  farmer  when  he 
sows  his  seed  wishes  to  pick  up  the  seed  again  as  he 
cast  it  down.  What  he  looks  for  is  the  harvest — the 
product  of  the  seed  which  he  has  sown  as  it  has  been 
worked  through  the  processes  of  nature.  So  God  de- 
sires His  word  to  return  to  Him  not  in  propositions  and 
theories,  but  in  living  souls — informed,  pervaded,  illu- 
minated, recreated,  by  the  truth  they  have  received. 
And  if  we  have  been  enlightened  by  these  saving  truths 
of  the  Gospel,  this  is  in  order  that  the  fabric  of  the  new 
creation  may  arise  in  us  made  according  to  the  pattern 
shown  in  the  mount.  We  are  now  and  henceforth  to 
work  out  this  salvation  in  our  thoughts  and  feelings  and 
actions,  even  to  the  very  last  result.  Thus  shall  we 
approach  unto  the  perfect  man — the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ. 


150  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

But  let  us  take  another  view  of  our  salvation.  It 
consists  not  only  in  the  enlightenment  of  the  mind 
by  saving  truth,  but  in  the  fact  which  is  thereby 
revealed  of  sin  actually  forgiven,  of  justification  for 
Christ's  sake  before  the  Father,  of  acceptance  in  the 
Beloved :  and  this  reconciliation  with  God  we  are 
to  work  out  into   its   ultimate  aim  of  perfect  holiness. 

No  candid  student  of  Scripture  can  doubt  that  it 
teaches  the  doctrine  that  the  sinner  is  freely  justified 
and  acquitted  by  God  from  all  his  guilt  as  soon  as  he 
believes  in  the  Lord  Jesus.  God  does  not  put  us  on 
probation  when  we  come  to  His  Son.  He  treats  us 
as  the  father  of  the  prodigal  did  his  penitent  boy.  He 
acknowledges  us  as  His  sons,  and  forthwith  reinstates 
us  in  our  place  in  His  house.  Therefore  Christ  said 
to  the  penitent  woman  and  to  the  believing  paralytic, 
"  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee."  Therefore  He  cried  to 
all  His  hearers,  "  He  that  heareth  my  word,  and  be- 
lieveth  on  Him  that  sent  me,  hath  everlasting  life,  and 
shall  not  come  into  condemnation  ;  but  is  passed  from 
death  unto  life."  Therefore  Paul  wrote  in  the  spirit 
of  Christ :  "  There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation 
to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus,"  and  quoted  to  the 
same  effect  the  old  prophet's  words,  "  Whosoever  shall 
call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved."  We 
believe,  therefore,  in  immediate  justification.  God 
accepts  the  penitent  sinner  as  righteous  for  Christ's 
sake.     He  imputes  to  him  the  righteousness  of  Christ. 


/  /  OR  KING    OUT  SAL  VA  TION  I  5  I 

He  declares  him  legally  guiltless.  God  is  reconciled 
to  the  sinner  and  the  sinner  is  reconciled  to  God. 
The  believer  is  a  free  man.  Before  God's  law  he  is  an 
innocent  man.  His  sins  and  his  iniquities  are  remem- 
bered no  more.  He  is  reconciled  in  Christ  to  God. 
At  the  foot  of  the  cross  the  burden  rolls  off. 

Now,  perhaps,  this  is  precisely  what  most  of  you  un- 
derstand by  salvation.  It  is  salvation ;  but  in  one  very 
important  sense  it  is  incomplete :  and  hence  the  diffi- 
culty which  men  so  often  find  in  it.  Not  a  few  people 
actually  regard  this  doctrine  as  injurious.  They  say,  for 
example,  that  it  teaches  men  so  to  rely  on  the  work  of 
another  as  to  do  no  work  themselves  ;  that  it  affords 
also  an  easy  excuse  by  which  men  can  imagine  them- 
selves saved  while  they  continue  living  in  sin.  It  is 
said,  further,  that  this  doctrine  is  a  mere  legal  fiction, 
such  as  we  cannot  suppose  God  to  act  upon,  however 
men  may  do  so.  He  must  treat  men  as  they  are:  and 
to  accept  as  righteous  for  the  sake  of. another  those 
whom  He  knows  to  be  unrighteous  would  be  to  bring 
His  government  into  merited  contempt.  Hence  the 
sheltering  robe  of  Christ's  merits  is  sought  to  be 
dragged  from  our  shoulders,  much  as  the  elder  brother 
would  have  torn  from  the  prodigal  the  "best  robe" 
which  his  father  had  put  upon  him  :  and  we  should  all 
be  left  in  our  shame  and  sinfulness  to  stand  the  poor 
chance  we  should  have  at  the  hand  of  eternal  right- 
eousness. 


152  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

It  will  help  to  remove  such  objections  from  your 
minds  and  may  lead  you  to  give  no  ground  for  such 
objections  to  others,  if  you  will  mark  the  bearing  of 
our  text  on  this  view  of  our  salvation.  There  is  no 
doubt,  as  I  have  said,  that  the  Bible  teaches  immediate 
justification  for  Christ's  sake.  But  it  is  important  to 
add  that  the  Bible  insists  with  equal  force  that  the 
salvation  which  is  made  legally  ours  we  are  to  work 
out ;  the  liberty  which  has  been  declared  to  be  ours 
we  are  to  exercise  both  as  to  its  privileges  and  its 
duties  ;  the  acquittal  which  we  have  received  we  are 
to  make  a  real  and  personal  deliverance  from  the 
actual  bondage  of  sin.  It  is  only  on  the  supposition 
that  the  formal  will  thus  become  the  real  that  it  is 
permitted.  It  is  only  on  the  supposition  and  cer- 
tainity  of  our  becoming  like  Christ  that  we  are 
allowed  to  know  that  in  Christ  we  are  saved. 

In  this,  as  in  the  former  point,  an  illustration  may 
make  clear  the  force  of  our  text.  In  Drummond's 
well-known  book  on  Natural  Law  in  the  Spiritual 
World,  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  is  that 
upon  "  Environment."  This  is  the  modern  word  for 
circumstances.  It  means  the  sum  total  of  the  out- 
ward conditions  in  which  any  object  lives.  The 
influence  of  an  animal's  environment  upon  it  is  now 
recognized  as  one  of  the  great  complex  forces  in  its 
development.  If  it  adjust  itself  to  its  environment  it 
will  live.     Harmony  with    environment   is  the  condi- 


/ / rORKING    OUT  SALVA  TION  1 5  3 

tion  of  life,  and  the  higher  the  environment,  the  higher 
the  life.  If  it  be  removed  to  another  environment,  it 
will  often,  if  it  have  sufficient  vitality,  come  to  adjust 
itself  thereto  so  as  quite  to  change  its  habits.  This 
is  a  well-known  fact  in  nature  and,  as  Drummond 
points  out,  we  find  the  same  fact  in  moral  and  spirit- 
ual matters.  A  man  is  made  by  his  company.  If 
he  would  improve,  he  must  put  himself  in  a  better 
environment.  Yea,  his  effort  should  be  to  put  him- 
self into  the  best  of  all  environments,  of  which  God 
Himself  is  the  chief  factor,  that  by  adjusting  him- 
self thereto  he  may  find  in  harmony  with  God  the 
perfect  life. 

I  think  that  the  ingenious  author  might  have  car- 
ried his  argument  a  step  further.  His  book  has  been 
criticized  because  it  contains  no  reference  to  atone- 
ment, and  here,  if  anywhere,  this  might  have  been 
introduced.  For  when  God  reinstates  us  into  His 
favor  in  Christ  Jesus  and  accepts  us  as  righteous  for 
Christ's  sake,  this  is  but  placing  us  in  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances  for  the  growth  of  spiritual  char- 
acter. We  are  in  Christ  as  the  tender  plant,  which, 
sheltered  in  the  conservatory  from  the  winter's  storm, 
produces  even  tropical  fruit.  So  in  Christ,  with  guilt 
removed,  with  favor  shown,  with  hope  beating  high, 
we  are  so  situated  that,  in  spite  of  contending  tempta- 
tion, we  may  work  out  in  our  lives  the  actual  image  of 
the  Saviour.     We  do  not  have  to  work  against  only 


I  54  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

hostile  influences.  We  are  only  in  a  state  of  imperfect 
adjustment.  Already  we  have  the  faith,  the  love,  the 
desire,  and  in  Christ  we  become  fashioned,  as  other- 
wise we  could  not  do,  into  the  likeness  of  our  Lord. 
If  you  wish  to  reform  and  save  a  child  whom  you 
have  discovered  in  a  home  of  squalor  and  vice,  you 
will  not  have  much  prospect  of  success  if  you  shall 
merely  give  it  good  advice  and  offer  to  pay  its 
schooling  and  furnish  it  with  clothes,  while  leaving  it 
in  its  squalid,  vicious  surroundings.  No ;  if  you 
wished  to  save  such  a  child,  you  would  feel  that  these 
would  undo  all  your  work.  You  would  remove 
it  beyond  their  influence.  Perhaps  you  would  take 
it  to  your  own  home.  There  you  would  have  reason- 
able hope  of  its  reformation.  There  it  would  be  able 
to  work  out  your  benevolent  intentions.  The  purity 
and  cleanliness  and  religion  of  your  home  would 
gradually  become  natural  to  it.  The  old  nature 
would  be  put  off  and  a  new  nature  put  on,  congruous 
to  the  new  circumstances  amid  which  you  have  placed 
the  child. 

Thus,  as  I  conceive  it,  God  does  with  the  be- 
liever. He  puts  him,  first  of  all,  in  such  a  new  rela- 
tion to  Himself,  that  in  it  spiritual  growth  is  possible. 
We  could  not  be  made  holy  without  first  being 
forgiven.  We  could  not  work  out  our  salvation 
without  having  first  received  it  as  a  free  gift.  But 
having  so  received  it,  we  are  to  work  it  out.      Like 


WORKING    OUT  SALVATION  155 

emancipated  slaves  we  are  to  prove  ourselves  worthy 
of  liberty.  Being  declared  freemen,  we  are  to  shake 
off  our  fetters.  There  is  plenty  of  need  of  effort  and 
toil.  It  is  real  work.  God  does  not  exempt  us  from 
such  work.  Only  it  is  work  with  a  reasonable  pros- 
pect of  success  :  and  that  is  not  true  of  the  work  of 
those  who  labor  for  their  salvation  with  the  law  against 
them.  We  are  to  work  our  salvation  out.  We  are 
to  enter  into  a  personal  experience,  ever  more  and 
more  complete,  of  that  union  with  God,  that  liberty 
from  sin,  that  deliverance  from  evil,  which  already  we 
have  the  moment  we  believe  in  Jesus,  though  we  have 
not  realized  in  experience  its  infinite  blessings. 

Such,  then,  I  apprehend  to  be  the  meaning  of  this 
command.  There  are  other  points  of  view  from  which 
we  might  regard  it,  but  these  two  that  I  have  pre- 
sented to  you  must  suffice.  Certainly  they  are 
sufficient  to  give  ardor  and  hope  to  every  earnest 
believer.  The  apostle  does  indeed  say,  "  Work  with 
fear  and  trembling."  But  no  doubt  he  so  spoke 
because  he  would  have  us  realize  the  momentous 
nature  of  our  task.  We  may  well  be  filled  with  awe 
as  we  consider  the  privileges  we  enjoy,  the  trust  com- 
mitted to  us,  the  magnificent  goal  which  is  held  before 
us.  And  by  fear  and  trembling  I  understand  not 
slavish  terror,  not  fear  which  springs  from  doubt,  but 
the  solemnity  and  carefulness  which  should  spring 
from  the  sense  of  our  divine  sonship  and  our  peerless 


I  56  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

portion  in  Christ,  which  arc  to  be  worked  out  in  this 
world  and  in  the  flesh.  And  that  we  may  not  faint, 
he  does  not  fail  to  add  also  the  reminder,  "  It  is  God 
which  worketh  in  you  both  the  willing  and  the  doing 
according  to  His  good  pleasure."  This  phrase  con- 
firms our  view  of  the  text.  We  are  to  work  as  those 
in  whom  God  already  works  and  dwells ;  as  those, 
therefore,  whom  He  has  already  accepted,  and  whose 
purpose  is  to  carry  out  His  purpose ;  whose  work  is 
done  because  He  is  working;  and  who,  therefore, 
again  have  the  utmost  encouragement  to  persevere. 

Let  us  obey,  therefore,  my  hearers,  this  most  prac- 
tical command.  Consider  the  capital  you  have  to 
start  with,  and  then  work  out  its  utmost  capacity,  that 
the  return  may  be  larger,  and  a  larger  reinvestment 
follow.  Already  you  are  Christ's,  I  assume.  Yours  is 
the  Sacrifice  and  the  Advocate  ;  yours  is  the  citizen- 
ship on  high;  yours  is  the  Holy  Spirit;  yours  are  the 
truth  and  the  promises.  Therefore  your  work  is  plain. 
Enjoy  your  liberty.  Put  sin  under  your  feet.  Apply 
the  truth  to  every  exigency  of  life.  Follow  in  the  foot- 
steps of  the  Master.  Solemnly,  carefully,  yet  joyfully 
and  hopefully,  work  out  into  life  and  character,  into 
opinion  and  emotion  and  conduct,  in  short,  into  your 
whole  being,  the  salvation  which  you  have  from  Christ 
by  faith  ;  and  you  need  not  fear.  He  who  worketh  in 
you  will  enable  you  to  succeed. 

And  if  there  be  any  poor  soul  here  who  is  trying  to 


WORKING    O  UT  SA  L  I  'A  TION  I  5  7 

work  out  salvation  for  himself  in  the  other  sense,  with 
no  acceptance  of  a  Saviour  now, — working  it  out 
doubtfully,  anxiously,  and  vainly,  seeing  how  poor  and 
faulty  the  result  is, — let  me  point  out  to  that  soul  its 
great  error.  Your  anxiety,  your  toil,  your  readiness  to 
work,  my  brother,  are  all  right;  but  you  are  working 
in  the  wrong  way  and  you  never  will  succeed.  You 
need  to  stop  working  for  a  while,  to  look  at  your 
worthless  products,  and  then  to  Him  for  salvation — to 
the  Lord,  our  Righteousness.  He  only  can  save  you. 
He  will  put  at  once  the  robe  on  your  shoulders  and 
strength  within  your  heart.  He  will  give  you  what 
you  cannot  make  for  yourself,  and  then  He  will  enable 
you  to  work  as  you  never  worked  before ;  to  work  out 
in  your  life  by  His  spirit  the  glorious  salvation  which 
He  has  purchased  by  His  blood.  Work  not  to  Christ, 
but  for  Christ  and  with  Christ,  and  you  will  have 
solved  the  problem — the  working  out  of  your  own 
salvation. 


IX 

UNFINISHED    BUILDINGS 

"For  which  of  you,  intending  to  build  a  tower,  sitteth  not  down 
first,  and  counteth  the  cost,  whether  he  have  sufficient  to  finish  it?  Lest 
haply,  after  he  hath  laid  the  foundation,  and  is  not  able  to  finish  it,  all 
that  behold  it  begin  to  mock  him,  saying,  This  man  began  to  build, 

and    was  not  able  to  finish So  likewise,   whosoever  he  be  of 

you  that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple."— 
Luke  xiv.,  2S-30,  33. 

We  naturally  dislike  failures.  We  hate  to  fail 
ourselves.  Some  men  would  rather  do  wrong  than 
fail ;  so  lofty  is  our  pride  and  so  sensitive  are  we 
to  the  criticism  of  the  world.  We  look  with  some 
derision  and  contempt  on  the  failures  of  others.  Un- 
finished labors  and  disappointed  ambitions  are  often 
thought  fit  subjects  for  scorn.  Our  Lord  was  quite 
true  to  life  when  He  described  the  mockery  which 
failures  meet  with.  He  Himself  was  to  feel  the  scorn- 
ful dart.  Hanging  on  the  cross,  an  apparent  failure  in 
the  eyes  of  the  exulting  priests,  He  was  to  hear  the 
cry:  "He  saved  others;  himself  he  cannot  save.  If 
he  be  the  King  of  Israel,  let  him  now  come  down  from 
the  cross." 

More  or  less  poignantly,  we  all  feel  the  sting  of  such 
remarks :  and  yet  are  only  too  apt  to  make  them.     It 

159 


l6o  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

is  true  that  often  men  are  not  to  be  blamed  for  their 
failures.  Sometimes  these  cannot  be  helped.  Some- 
times, too,  they  are  our  best  friends,  though  they  meet 
us  with  grim  visages  and  though  their  embrace  be 
rough.  But  wherever  we  see  presumptuous  ambition 
falling  from  the  too  dizzy  height  to  which  it  has 
climbed ;  or  reckless  extravagance  ending  in  rapid 
bankruptcy ;  or  any  attempt,  especially  if  we  do  not 
sympathize  with  it,  evaporating  into  smoke  ;  we  quickly 
put  upon  it  the  stigma  of  our  derision  and  say,  not 
always  kindly  and  yet  not  without  reason,  This  man 
began  to  build  and  was  not  able  to  finish. 

Against  all  such  failures  in  religion  and  in  Christian 
life  our  watchful  Lord  has  warned  us.  His  warning 
is  needed  :  for  it  is  not  hard  to  begin  a  good  work; 
and  many  start  to  run  who  never  reach  the  goal. 
Does  not  the  adage  say  that  "  The  way  to  hell  is 
paved  with  good  intentions "  ?  A  little  child  may 
begin  to  dig  away  a  mountain  with  a  trowel  or 
to  empty  the  ocean  with  a  cup ;  but  he  overrates  his 
capacity  and  underrates  the  task.  Equally  thought- 
less are  those  who  set  out  on  the  moral  and  spiritual 
enterprises  of  life  without  preparation  and  an  intelligent 
understanding   of   the    work    before    them. 

Not  a  few  begin  the  religious  life  under  such  mis- 
takes, and,  of  course,  they  fail.  A  little  gush  of 
enthusiasm  thrills  them  as  they  listen  to  a  vivid  pre- 
sentation of  the  truth  ;  and    on    the    spur    of  it  they 


UNFINISHED   BUILDINGS  l6l 

enlist  for  a  campaign,  the  dangers  and  duties  of  which 
they  do  not  begin  to  comprehend.  A  wave  of  reli- 
gious feeling  spreads  through  the  community,  and 
men  mistake  the  contagion  of  excitement  for  the  vital 
force  of  conviction  and  real  conversion.  Conscience 
stings  them  for  some  particular  offence,  and  in  remorse 
they  dedicate  themselves  to  a  service  which  they  do 
not  truly  love.  Misfortune  falls  upon  them ;  bereave- 
ment enters  their  homes ;  death  with  stealthy  tread 
draws  near ;  and  in  sheer  alarm  they  try  to  hide  them- 
selves under  a  profession  which  deceives  no  one  except 
perhaps  themselves.  Cases  like  this  frequently  occur, 
and  it  is  no  wonder  that  they  do  not  issue  in  per- 
manent good  results.  Enthusiasm  dies  ;  feeling  ebbs  ; 
conscience  sleeps  again ;  fortune  smiles  once  more ; 
sorrow's  edge  is  dulled  :  and  the  episode  passes,  leaving 
the  man  worse  than  it  found  him. 

I  do  not  forget  that  there  are  others  guilty  of 
exactly  the  opposite  fault,  in  that  they  wait  too  long 
and  let  the  golden  opportunities  escape  them  which 
God  meant  them  to  improve.  But  other  texts  are 
meant  for  them.  At  present  we  deal  with  bad  begin- 
ners. Perhaps  there  are  more  of  these.  Christ  wants 
us  to  begin  and  to  finish :  and  if  we  begin  aright, 
we  shall  be  sure  to  finish.  Permanent  success,  com- 
pleted lives,  genuine,  real  disciples  were  what  He 
sought  to  make :  and  knowing  how  easy  it  is  for  men 
to  make  mistakes  and  how  melancholy  a  sight  such 
11 


1 62  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

an  unfinished  building  is,  He  warned  us  of  our  peril 
and  showed  us  the  secret  of  success. 

Let  me  give  you  some  examples  of  such  unfinished 
buildings,  which  were  meant  to  be,  but  are  not, 
structures  of  Christian  character ;  and  point  out  the 
common  causes  of  their  failure. 

Some  men  begin  to  build,  but  are  not  able  to 
finish,  because  they  do  not  lay  a  strong  enough  foun- 
dation. The  foundation  on  which  a  man's  personal 
religion  rests  is  his  faith.  That  is  the  root-principle 
out  of  which  his  Christian  life  expands  and  unfolds. 
That  is  the  fundamental  fact  on  which  his  experience 
of  religious  power  depends.  An  irreligious  man  is 
one  who  does  not  trust.  He  may  intellectually  be- 
lieve, but  he  does  not  personally  confide  in  God. 
The  change  which  makes  him  a  Christian,  if  he  ever 
becomes  such,  consists  essentially  in  his  learning  to 
trust.  He  sees  now  the  reasonableness  of  such 
trust :  inasmuch  as  reason  cannot  show  him  salvation 
and  God  has  given  sufficient  evidence  for  his  trust  to 
rest  upon.  He  becomes  so  far  a  child  again.  He  takes 
God  at  His  word  and  humbly  rests  on  it.  Not  that  he 
as  yet  believes  all  that  he  ought  to  believe  or  will  be- 
lieve. Not  that  he  is  at  once  exempt  from  doubts  and 
still  less  from  sins.  But  he  has  found  faith.  Having 
found  that,  with  it  comes  the  religious  view  of  life, 
and  he  becomes  so  far  forth  a  religious  man. 

Yet  this  is  only  the  foundation.     On  it  is  the  struct- 


UNFINISHED  BUILDINGS  1 63 

ure  of  Christian  knowledge  and  character  to  be  raised. 
Out  of  it  are  the  Christian  virtues  to  grow :  and  if  the 
faith  be  not  genuine  and  strong,  it  may  give  way  when 
much  has  been  built  upon  it,  and  the  whole  edifice 
crumble  to  ruin.  Have  you  ever  considered  how  we 
build  each  day  on  the  preceding  day's  assumptions, 
and  go  on  building  until  the  whole  fabric  of  our  habits 
and  relations  rests  thereon  ?  A  man's  first  convictions 
are  of  awful  importance  to  him.  For  when  he  has 
made  them,  he  has  thenceforth  to  assume  them  as 
proved.  He  has  to  build  on  them.  He  takes  his 
position  in  the  world  on  the  strength  of  them.  He 
acquires  habits  based  upon  them.  He  forms  ties  in 
which  these  convictions  are  assumed.  Thus  the 
structure  rises  on  the  foundation  of  his  original  belief. 
What  a  frightful  catastrophe  is  that  which  has 
sometimes  taken  place  when,  after  years  of  such 
building,  the  underlying  faith  gives  way !  Men  have 
been  driven  almost  mad  by  the  calamity.  Some 
have  been  dishonest  and  have  hidden  the  change  of 
faith  because  of  their  unwillingness  to  face  the  conse- 
quences. The  catastrophe  is  enough  to  frighten  any 
one — to  feel  the  very  rock  on  which  our  whole  lives 
rest  sliding  from  underneath  us ;  to  see  our  funda- 
mental axioms  melting  into  fog,  and  to  find  ourselves 
reduced  to  the  miserable  alternative  of  either  beginning 
life  all  over  again  on  another  basis  or  else  patching  up 
the  old  foundation  by  some  more  or  less   dishonest 


164  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

means.  It  is  of  primary  importance,  therefore,  that 
we  take  every  possible  means  of  acquiring  a  founda- 
tion faith  which  will  be  strong  and  true :  such  a  faith 
as  will  stand  the  strain  which  will  be  put  upon  it, 
and  successfully  uphold  throughout  life  whatever  may 
be  built  over  it. 

What  are  the  qualifications   of   such  a  faith  ? 

It  must  not  be  a  blind  faith.  A  blind  faith  is  one 
which  exists  without  intelligent  reasons  ;  which  does 
not  know  why  it  believes  ;  which  can  give  no  account 
of  itself  to  others.  Many  start  with  such  a  faith,  and  it 
is  no  wonder  that  by  and  by  the  crash  comes.  They 
believe  merely  because  they  have  been  taught  to, 
without  seriously  thinking  for  themselves.  They 
accept  their  faith  on  authority  without  ever  examining 
the  right  of  their  authority  to  teach.  They  do  not 
realize  that  their  faith  must  stand  the  strain  of  later 
thought  and  of  strange  temptations.  They  don  the 
uniform  of  belief  without  consideration  of  the  fight 
which  awaits  a  soldier's  life.  There  are  such  things  as 
both  blind  unbelief  and  blind  faith:  and  the  blunder  of 
each  is  to  be  condemned.  "  Prove  all  things,"  says  an 
apostle ;  "  hold  fast  that  which  is  good."  Another 
apostle  says,  "  Be  ready  always  to  give  an  answer  to 
every  man  that  asketh  you  a  reason  of  the  hope  that 
is  in  you."  He  does  not  mean  that  we  should  be  able 
to  answer  all  objections  and  solve  all  difficulties,  for, 
as  Newman  once  wrote,  "  ten  thousand  difficulties  do 


UNFINISHED  BUILDINGS  l6$ 

not  make  one  doubt."  But  he  does  mean  that  we 
should  believe  because  we  feel  faith  to  be  an  intelligent 
and  reasonable  thing,  and  therefore  should  hold  it  not 
as  if  we  were  tied  to  it  with  a  rope  by  another's  hand, 
but  as  grasping  it  deliberately  with  our  own  hands. 

Then  it  must  be  a  faith  not  in  man  but  in  God. 
We  do  not  urge  men  to  believe  in  us,  or  in  the 
Church,  or  even  in  the  apostles,  but  in  God  as  re- 
vealed in  His  Son  Jesus  Christ.  Paul  said  to  some 
who  were  putting  him  above  his  Master,  "  Who  then 
is  Paul,  and  who  is  Apollos,  but  ministers  by  whom  ye 
believed?"  To  have  for  your  foundation  faith  in  any- 
thing human  is  to  build  on  sand.  For  no  man  can  be 
to  a  soul  its  God  or  its  spiritual  father.  No  belief 
in  any  man  or  church  will  of  itself  reconcile  your  sinful 
heart  to  the  Holy  One.  Your  trust  must  be  in  God 
Himself.  It  must  be  a  resting  upon  His  being  and  a 
dependence  on  His  word.  It  must  be  the  establish- 
ing in  you  of  filial  confidence  in  the  divine  Father, 
and  this,  through  His  only  Son,  the  divine  Saviour. 
Many  a  time  has  our  faith  in  man  received  a  shock  ; 
and  some  poor  souls,  who  have  been  resting  on  hu- 
man rather  than  on  divine  supports,  have  lost  in  the 
wreck  not  only  their  faith  in  men  but  their  faith  in 
God  also.  They  were  illogical,  but  they  suffered  loss, 
nevertheless ;  and  the  melancholy  view  of  their  lives 
warns  us  that  only  faith  in  God  is  a  strong  enough 
foundation  for  the  structure  that  is  to  be  built  upon  it. 


1 66  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

Still  further,  your  faith  must  be  eager  to  know  better 
Him  in  whom  you  have  believed.  Some  men  seem 
to  think  that  when  faith  has  once  been  exercised,  its 
mission  is  done,  and  that  henceforth  they  may  be  busy 
about  all  other  kinds  of  knowledge  and  work  except 
the  knowledge  of  God  and  His  work,  and  yet  their 
faith  retain  its  power.  Is  it  any  wonder  if  after  a  while 
their  minds  become  cultivated  in  every  respect  except 
in  spiritual  things,  and  that  little  by  little  a  great 
chasm  is  opened  between  their  real  life  and  the  faith 
which  they  once  held  ?  Suppose  you  make  a  friend 
and  "  swear  to  him  eternal  friendship,"  and  then  go 
off  and  live  by  yourself,  keep  up  no  communication 
with  him,  do  not  share  with  him  his  thoughts  nor  let 
him  share  yours,  become  absorbed  in  things  from 
which  he  is  excluded :  how  long,  do  you  suppose, 
will  your  friendship  last  ?  Go  back  to  him  and  try 
to  assume  again  the  old  relations,  and  you  will  find 
that  he  and  you  are  separated  by  a  want  of  sympathy 
which  no  formal  association  can  recreate.  So  must 
your  faith  in  God  be  of  a  kind  which  seeks  to  know 
Him  better  and  better.  It  must  expand  with  your 
growing  life.  It  must  be  fitted  into  the  changing 
circumstances  of  your  fortunes.  It  must  be  a  divine 
companionship  in  the  actual  warfare  of  this  world.  It 
must  twine  itself  about  God's  heart  as  it  feels  His 
arms  supporting  your  soul.  So  will  it  be  living,  real, 
practical,  potent ;  and   though  you   grow  to  be  never 


UNFINISHED   BUILDINGS  1 67 

so  wise,  never  so  rich,  never  so  busy,  it  will  abide  with 
you,  and  be  the  ever-sufficient  foundation  on  which 
your  life's  building  rests. 

Then  you  will  be  able  to  build  and  to  finish.  Oh, 
some  believers  are  afraid  of  doubt  and  infidelity ! 
People  speak  of  the  decline  of  faith.  Now  and  then 
we  do  see  men  who  began  to  build  but  were  not  able 
to  finish  because  their  faith  had  failed  them.  But  it 
need  not  have  failed;  and  if  it  be  as  I  have  said  it  ought 
to  be,  we  need  not  fear  for  others  or  for  ourselves. 
A  faith  that  is  intelligent ;  that  rests  on  God,  not  on 
man  ;  and  that  ever  seeks,  amid  the  other  avocations 
of  life,  to  know  God  and  to  obey  His  truth  better  and 
better;  will  support  the  mightiest  structure  which  the 
longest  life  and  the  most  active  brain  and  the  busiest 
hand  can  build  upon  it. 

But,  again,  some  men  begin  to  build  but  are  not 
able  to  finish  because  they  are  unreasonably  ambitious, 
attempt  too  much,  and  then  give  up  in  despair.  The 
great  cathedral  at  Cologne  was  begun  as  far  back  as 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  century  after  century  it  re- 
mained unfinished.  It  was  too  ambitious  a  structure 
for  the  age  and  place  to  complete.  Not  until  about 
thirty  years  ago  was  it  finished  by  an  heroic  effort  of 
the  Prussian  king,  and  then  only  by  a  vast  expenditure 
of  money  and  of  modern  skill.  There  are  many  who 
try  to  build  Gothic  cathedrals  when  they  ought  to  be 
content  with   chapels   or   dwelling-houses.       Entering 


1 68  FAITH  A. YD   LIFE 

on  the  Christian  life,  they  have  unreasonable  ideas. 
They  lay  out  more  work  than  any  mortal  can  accom- 
plish, and  expect  results  which  even  the  divine  prom- 
ises do  not  warrant.  Of  course,  their  towers  are  never 
more  than  begun,  like  that  of  Babel ;  and  with  a  disap- 
pointment as  unreasonable  as  were  their  plans,  they 
give  up  the  task  altogether  and  tell  us,  perhaps,  that 
they  have  tried  religion  and  have  found  it  a  failure. 

Here  are  some  illustrations  of  what  I  mean  by  these 
too  ambitious  plans. 

One  begins  with  the  idea  that  he  will  understand 
everything.  He  is  a  philosopher,  and  he  means  to 
solve  the  problems  of  theology  and  of  Providence 
that  have  vexed  the  ages.  In  most  cases  he  is 
soon  more  interested  in  curious  questions  than  he 
is  in  practical  piety,  and  examines  the  stones  so 
long  that  he  forgets  to  build  with  them.  His  religion 
becomes  a  mental  speculation.  He  becomes  eccen- 
tric in  his  views,  and  after  a  while  he  breaks  away  from 
the  faith  and  dedicates  himself  to  his  speculations. 

Another  begins  with  the  idea  that  he  will  transform 
the  world  in  a  lifetime.  He  is  sure  that  he  can  do 
what  the  apostles  failed  to  do.  He  has  some  pet 
scheme  by  which  humanity  is  to  be  immediately 
brought  to  its  right  condition.  With  great  enthu- 
siasm he  sets  forth — with  more  zeal  than  knowledge ; 
and  when  he  has  broken  his  spear  against  the  gigantic 
evils  of  the  day,  and  has  found    himself  unable   to 


UNFINISHED  BUILDINGS  1 69 

conquer  them,  he  rashly  concludes  that  nothing  can 
be  done,  and  lays  down  his  arms. 

And  still  a  third  carries  the  same  unreasonable  ideas 
into  his  personal  life.  There  have  been  those,  as  you 
know,  and  there  still  are  those,  who  think  to  destroy 
the  earthly  life  at  once,  and  enter  into  perfection  by 
casting  off  the  human  ties  and  sympathies  which  God 
had  made  for  us,  and  in  ascetic  solitude  attain  perpetual 
communion  with  divinity. 

There  are  those,  too,  who  begin  the  Christian  life 
with  no  conception  of  the  patient  work  of  sanctification 
which  lies  before  them,  and  think  to  enjoy  at  once  the 
ideal  pleasures  of  a  holy  and  sinless  life.  They  are 
like  the  seed  which  Jesus  described,  which  fell  among 
thorns  ;  and  they  are  choked  by  the  cares  and  riches, 
the  temptations  and  the  sorrows  of  life,  and  bring  no 
fruit  to  perfection. 

All  these  classes  begin  to  build,  but  are  not  able  to 
finish,  because  they  plan  unreasonably  ambitious  struc- 
tures. We  do  not  need  to  lay  out  such  grand  schemes. 
We  shall  only  fail  if  we  do.  We  were  not  meant  to 
live  in  palaces  but  in  ordinary  dwelling-houses.  It  is 
not  for  us  to  attempt  what  even  apostles  and  prophets 
thought  beyond  them. 

For  be  it  well  understood  that  the  Christian  life  does 
not  offer  us  the  explanation  of  all  mysteries.  It  is 
not  a  philosophy,  but  a  practical  theory  of  life.  It  does 
not  explain  the  principles  of  God,  nor  make  us  wise 


170  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

like  the  Most  High.  We  know  but  in  part,  and 
while  sufficient  light  is  given  for  the  daily  walk,  the 
heights  and  depths  are  still  veiled.  We  must  be 
modest.  It  is  not  necessary  to  understand  all  things 
in  order  to  get  real  happiness  and  usefulness  out 
of  life.  Let  us  not  tiy  to  build  museums  to  exhibit 
curious  discoveries  in  ;  nor  palaces  in  which  to  display 
the  achievements  of  our  mental  powers  ;  but  simple 
dwellings,  in  which  we  may  live  with  God  in  faith 
and  communion,  and  which  will  be  quite  sufficient  for 
the  little  while  we  have  to  stay  in  them. 

And  be  it  well  understood,  also,  that  God  does  not 
call  us  to  transform  the  world.  He  is  reconciling  the 
world  unto  Himself;  and  only  subordinate  parts  are 
committed  to  us.  Even  the  Lord  Jesus  was  content 
to  limit  His  work  to  the  special  lot  assigned  Him ;  and 
though  there  was  much,  doubtless,  that  He  would 
have  liked  to  do  but  could  not,  He  did  so  well  what 
He  was  given  to  do  that  He  could  say  at  the  end,  "  It 
is  finished."  Only  do  with  thy  might  what  thy  hands 
find  to  do,  and  leave  the  rest  with  God. 

Then  do  not  forget  that  the  building  up  of  personal 
character  can  likewise  advance  only  slowly  in  this 
world.  It  is  a  life-long  matter.  Disappointments  and 
trials  and  temptations  are  parts  of  the  needed  discipline. 
Concentrate,  therefore,  on  what  is  practical.  Start  out 
to  do  your  best  for  Christ  and  men,  to  know  all  that 
you  can  know,  to  fight  the  good   fight  till  death ;  but 


Unfinished  buildings  171 

remember  that  at  the  most  we  can  accomplish  little. 
Still  that  little  is  worth  doing  and  doing  well.  It  is 
your  heaven-given  mission.  Do  it  with  your  might. 
It  will  give  point  and  issue  to  your  Christianity,  and 
at  the  end  you  will  at  least  have  finished  something, 
and  will  not  awaken  derision  and  shame  by  an 
ambitious   failure. 

And  now,  still  again,  some  begin  to  build  but  are 
not  able  to  finish,  because  they  try  to  do  too  many 
other  things  at  the  same  time.  They  are  like  workmen 
who  take  too  many  jobs,  and  the  particular  trouble  is 
that  they  often  become  more  interested  in  the  doing 
of  other  work  than  in  the  building  up  of  Christian  life 
and  usefulness. 

I  suspect  that  this  is  one  of  the  commonest  reasons 
why  so  many  in  our  day  begin  to  build  and  are  not 
able  to  finish.  The  temptations  to  forget  the  Lord's 
work  are  innumerable.  The  young  man,  for  exam- 
ple, who  has  started  well,  becomes  fascinated  by 
the  claims  of  business,  desiring,  as  he  does,  to  push 
it  to  success  and  fortune ;  or  he  becomes  absorbed  in 
the  study  and  the  practice  of  his  profession.  When 
he  gets  a  home  of  his  own,  he  becomes  chiefly  inter- 
ested in  securing  the  comfort  of  his  family,  and  in 
maintaining  his  place  in  the  hardly  contested  race  of 
life.  Never,  perhaps,  did  so  many  voices,  sweet  and 
deceptive  as  the  siren's,  call  us  in  different  ways. 
Culture    calls  us    to  her    feet    and  wealth  dazzles  us 


1 7  2  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

with  its  promises ;  politics  offers  an  easy  path  to  fame ; 
and  science  tells  of  mysteries  to  be  learned,  more 
wonderful  than  alchemists  ever  dreamed  of.  So  we 
neglect  the  building  up  of  faith  and  of  Christian 
character.  We  dwindle  into  religious  indifference  and 
external  morality.  We  care  for  everything  except 
that  which  is  most  important,  and  to  which  we  once 
pledged  our  names.  Is  it  any  wonder  if  we  present 
to  God's  eye  an  unfinished  task,  and  never  enjoy  the 
comfort  of  a  completed  spiritual  home  ? 

How  shall  we  escape  this  peril  ?  Well  may  we  ask 
the  question.  I  reply,  Only  by  close  and  constant 
watchfulness.  The  prophet  Haggai  lived  after  the 
return  of  Israel  from  Babylon,  and  reproved  them  for 
just  this  fault,  that  they  built  their  own  houses  but  let 
the  Lord's  house  lie  waste.  He  assured  them  that  real 
prosperity  would  come  to  them  only  when  they  cared 
for  Jehovah's  temple  even  at  the  cost  of  neglecting 
other  things.  I  bring  a  similar  message  to  you.  You 
must  not  let  the  work  of  life  cause  you  to  forget  the 
duty  of  prayer  and  the  service  of  Christ's  kingdom.  It 
is  idle  to  say  that  you  have  not  time.  You  have  time. 
Besides,  whose  is  your  time  ?  What  are  you  but 
workmen  in  the  employ  of  God?  Is  not  your  time 
His  ?  Then  do  His  work.  Do  not  scatter  your 
energies.  Put  that  first  which  belongs  in  the  first 
place.  Lay  the  emphasis  of  life  aright.  Seek  first  the 
kingdom    of    God.      Build    the    temple,  the    temple 


UNFINISHED   BUILDINGS  1 73 

of  Christian  character,  the  temple  of  divine  service. 
Give  heed  to  these  things,  and  do  not  prepare  for  your 
souls  in  your  dying  hour  the  horrible  thought  that  you 
have  been  absorbed  in  the  least  important  matter  to 
the  neglect  of  that  for  which  you  were  chiefly  sent 
into  the  world.  When  the  Master  comes  to  examine 
thy  day's  labor,  and  asks  thee  what  hast  thou  built,  it 
will  not  do  to  say,  "See,  Lord,  I  have  been  working 
on  yonder  house  of  my  own,  and  have  not  had  time  to 
do  much  at  thine."  Surely  He  will  say,  "  Did  I  not 
employ  thee  for  my  work  ?  Go  thy  way.  As  thou 
hast  served  thyself  and  not  me,  look  to  thyself  for  thy 
reward." 

And,  finally,  some  men  begin  to  build,  but  are 
not  able  to  finish,  because  they  do  not  count  the  cost 
beforehand.  This  was  the  reason  of  failure  which 
our  Lord  had  especially  in  mind.  How  fair  He  was 
with  those  disciples  who  knew  so  little  of  what  was 
involved  in  the  great  undertaking !  Some  were  ready 
to  follow  Jesus  under  the  impulse  of  mere  patriotism ; 
others  from  the  excitement  of  the  popular  enthusiasm 
which  was  so  soon  to  die  away ;  others,  perhaps,  even 
from  selfish  and  sordid  motives.  The  Lord  desired  to 
save  them  from  such  unhappy  mistakes.  He  insisted, 
therefore,  upon  their  knowing  what  the  cost  of  disciple- 
ship  would  be,  and  He  put  the  case  so  strongly  that  it 
almost  staggers  us  as  we  read  His  words.  "  If  any 
man  come  to  me  and  hate  not  his  father  and  mother, 


174  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

and  wife  and  children,  yea,  and  his   own   life  also,  he 
cannot  be  my  disciple." 

Of  course,  He  meant  "  hate "  only  in  a  compar- 
ative sense.  He  told  us  to  honor  father  and 
mother,  to  love  wife  and  children,  and  our  neighbor 
as  ourselves.  So  He  could  not  have  meant  us  to 
hate  them.  But  he  did  mean  that  our  acceptance 
of  Him  as  Master  should  be  so  complete  and  absolute 
that  nothing  will  be  allowed  to  stand  in  its  way. 
Everything  that  becomes  in  any  way  inconsistent  with 
it  is  to  be  surrendered.  Then  He  added,  "  And  who- 
soever doth  not  bear  his  cross,  and  come  after  Me, 
cannot  be  My  disciple."  He  meant  us  to  realize  that 
the  Christian  life  is  one  of  self-denial ;  that  we  must  not 
enter  it  expecting  only  reward  but  must  expect  also 
trial,  and  that  we  must  enter  as  bearers  of  the  cross. 
It  is  true  that  the  cross  becomes  sweet  when  we 
bear  it  willingly;  that  His  yoke  is  easy  and  His  burden 
light.  But  He  did  not  tell  them  that,  because  He 
wanted  them  to  begin  to  build  in  the  resolute  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice.  Finally  He  added,  "  Whosoever  he  be 
of  you  that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath,  he  cannot 
be  My  disciple  " — forsaketh  all,  that  is,  in  the  sense  of 
withdrawing  from  it  our  supreme  allegiance ;  putting 
it  with  ourselves  at  the  service  of  the  Lord ;  being 
willing  to  spend  all  we  have  and  are  in  the  work  to 
which  God  calls  us.  Thus  Jesus  taught  us  to  count 
the  cost.     "  Which  of  you,"  He  says,  "  intending  to 


UNFINISHED  BUILDINGS  1 75 

build  a  tower,  sittcth  not  down  first,  and  counteth  the 
cost,  whether  he  have  sufficient  to  finish  it?" 

I  make  my  appeal  to  you,  therefore,  for  an  intelli- 
gent, sincere,  hearty,  and  real  acceptance  of  Jesus 
Christ.  It  would  be  easy  for  me  to  dilate  upon  the 
reasons  why  you  should  begin  the  building.  If  you  do 
not  feel  them,  you  must  be  blind  indeed.  But  I  know 
you  do  feel  them,  for  conscience  impresses  them  upon 
you.  But  probably  not  a  few  are  held  back  from  be- 
ginning, just  because  of  the  fear  that  they  may  not 
be  able  to  finish.  They  do  not  want  to  be  failures. 
They  do  not  want  to  be  inconsistent.  They  are 
afraid  to  undertake  so  great  a  task  as  it  seems  to 
them.  By  all  that  I  have  said  do  I  respect  their  de- 
sire to  be  honest  and  consistent.  Unfinished  build- 
ings— monuments  of  folly !  Certainly  these  no  one 
wants. 

But  I  press  upon  you  the  fact  that  if  you  set  to  work 
in  the  right  way,  there  is  not  the  least  likelihood  of 
failure.  Lay  the  foundation  by  a  simple,  honest  trust 
in  Jesus  as  your  Saviour.  Be  content  to  do  the  work 
which  He  assigns  you.  Do  not  let  yourselves  be 
carried  away  to  the  neglect  of  your  religious  duties. 
Be  honest,  be  sincere,  give  yourselves  wholly  to  Him, 
and  then  you  need  not  fear.  You  may  be  poor  and 
weak,  but  He  will  make  up  for  all  that.  You  may 
feel  yourselves  wholly  inadequate,  and  you  are  so; 
but    He    will  give  you  the  grace  you    need    day   by 


176  FAITH  AXD    LIFE 

day.  This  is  the  testimony  of  all  who  have  builded 
under  Him,  while  those  who  will  not  begin  simply 
because  they  are  afraid  they  will  not  finish,  will  have 
no  work  at  all  to  show  Him  when  He  comes  to  make 
inquiry  of  their  souls. 

Oh,  the  joy  of  him  who  begins  in  the  faith  and 
love  of  the  Saviour,  who  daily  builds  a  little,  who, 
amid  the  other  work  of  life,  does  not  forget  his  soul 
and  his  Maker,  who  tries  to  extend  Christ's  king- 
dom, and  thus  in  life  and  work  builds  up  God's 
house !  Even  if  his  life  be  short,  even  if  he  have  only 
a  humble  place  assigned  him,  he  will  be  able  to 
greet  his  Lord,  when  the  day  is  done,  with  the  happy 
words :  "  I  have  finished  the  work  which  thou  gavest 
me  to  do." 


X 

STRENGTH    AND    BEAUTY 
"  Strength  and  beauty  are  in  His  sanctuary." — Psalms  xcvi.  6. 

I  suppose  that  the  Hebrew  writer  of  these  words 
was  looking  at  or  thinking  of  the  temple,  and  that, 
as  he  admired  its  architectural  strength  and  beauty, 
his  thought  was  raised  to  adoration  of  Him  whose 
dwelling-place  the  temple  was.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
this  Psalm  was  composed  before  or  after  the  Babylo- 
nian exile — whether,  therefore,  the  eye  of  the  writer 
fell  on  the  temple  of  Solomon  or  on  that  which  was 
erected  by  the  Jews  who  returned  from  Chaldea.  But 
for  our  purpose  this  matters  little.  In  either  case  the 
sanctuary  of  God  filled  him  with  admiration. 

If,  however,  it  was  Solomon's  temple  of  which  he 

spoke,  we  can  imagine  some  of  the  features  which  he 

must  have    had   in    mind.     The  immense   blocks    of 

stone  of  which  the  foundation  was  composed,  and  the 

great  Lebanon  cedars  which  were  brought  by  Hiram, 

king  of  Tyre,  explain  the  reference  to  the  strength 

of  the  building.     Though   not   large,  it  was   a  solid, 

massive  structure,  built  to  last  through  ages,  while  the 

foundations  themselves  rested   on   imperishable  rock. 

And,  then,  the  resources  of  art    were    exhausted   to 
12  177 


I78  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

make  it  beautiful  as  well  as  strong.  The  interior  was 
overlaid  with  pure  gold,  on  which  were  carved  figures 
of  cherubim  and  palm  trees  and  flowers.  All  the 
utensils  of  worship  were  of  the  same  costly  metal 
and  elaborately  ornamented ;  while  precious  stones 
gleamed  amid  the  gold  and  Tyrian  tapestries  hung 
on  every  side.  The  wealthiest  of  kings  lavished  his 
riches ;  the  most  skilled  artificers  taxed  their  art;  the 
adventurous  mariners  laid  tribute  upon  distant  lands  to 
make  beautiful  the  temple  of  Jehovah.  It  thus  seemed 
to  combine  the  two  elements  of  architectural  perfec- 
tion,— strength  and  beauty.  The  Hebrews  beheld  in 
it  the  fittest  habitation  for  God  which  human  hands 
could  provide ;  and  in  its  perfection  as  a  building  they 
saw  represented  the  perfection  which  the  human  soul 
would  enjoy  when  made  in  like  manner  the  dwelling- 
place  of  God. 

Hence  the  exultant  strains  of  this  Psalm.  It  calls 
upon  the  whole  earth  to  worship  the  Lord,  for  He 
only  is  God.  All  are  exhorted  to  come  into  His 
courts  and  offer  Him  their  sacrifice  of  praise.  As 
their  Creator,  they  are  bound  to  obey  Him.  As  their 
King  and  Judge,  they  are  in  peril  if  they  disobey  Him. 
And  the  honor  and  majesty  which  are  before  Him,  the 
strength  and  the  beauty  which  are  in  His  sanctuary, 
are  at  once  the  proof  that  He  is  worthy  to  be  served, 
and  a  promise  that  in  serving  Him  all  men  may  find 
the  highest  and  noblest  life. 


STRENGTH  AND   BEAUTY  1 79 

If  I  may  be  permitted  to  take  an  illustration  of  the 
text  from  what  is  just  now  in  all  our  thoughts,  I  would 
point  you  to  the  massive  and  yet  beautiful  building 
which  the  citizens  of  this  community  arc  about  to 
dedicate  to  the  administration  of  justice.*  Our  new 
court-house  finely  combines  the  two  qualities  of 
strength  and  beauty.  It  is  almost  as  massive  as 
if  made  by  nature  itself,  while  the  outlines  are  so 
artistic  ;  the  proportion  of  parts  is  so  harmonious  ;  the 
ornamentation,  while  simple,  so  appropriate,  that  as 
we  look  upon  it  we  think  less  of  its  strength  than 
of  its  beauty.  And  yet  I  may  hope  that  we  do  not 
merely  admire  it  as  an  ornament  to  our  city,  but  also 
rejoice  in  it  as  a  fit  symbol  of  the  just  and  yet  merciful 
laws  to  whose  administration  it  is  consecrated.  It 
represents  the  supremacy  of  law  in  this  Republic;  our 
determination  that  law  shall  be  enforced  among  us. 
Like  the  court-house,  law  is  strong,  and  yet,  in  a  sense, 
beautiful.  It  is  the  granite  of  our  national  structure, 
and  we  mean  that  it  shall  be  sovereign  among  us,  since 
liberty  is  secured  only  through  the  administration  of 
law.  Yet  mercy  and  fraternity  should  temper  justice. 
Ours  is  not  the  hard  law  of  a  despot,  but  a  wise  law 
framed  by  freemen  for  their  own  self-government  and 
for  the  happiness  of  the  community  at  large.  Such, 
at  least,  is  our  ideal:  and  this  strong  and  yet  beautiful 
building  may  well  express  to  us  and  to  all  comers  the 

*  This  sermon  was  preached  in  Pittsburgh.  September  23,  1888. 


l8o  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

sovereignty  and  the  humanity  of  the  principle  whose 
temple  it  is.  So  also  the  Hebrews  did  through  the 
temple  of  Jehovah  express  His  glory  and  the  happi- 
ness of  His  people. 

When,  now,  we  would  apply  the  Psalmist's  words  to 
our  circumstances,  what  do  they  mean?  The  answer 
is  given  by  the  question,  What  is  now  the  sanctuary  of 
God  ?  The  Hebrew  temple  has  passed  away,  never 
to  be  reerected.     What  has  taken  its  place? 

In  one  sense  Jesus  is  the  temple  of  God,  for  in  Him 
God  dwelt  and  dwells  in  all  completeness.  He  Himself 
said,  "  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will 
raise  it  up."  In  Him  dwells  all  the  fullness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily.  Jesus,  therefore,  is  the  sanctuary 
of  God,  at  whose  feet  all  men  are  to  worship:  and  I 
think  you  will  admit  that  in  Jesus  strength  and  beauty 
appear  as  nowhere  else  among  men.  He  is  the  ideal 
man.  His  character  contains  every  element  of  strength 
— profound  knowledge,  constant  faith,  ability  to  suffer 
for  the  truth,  composure  in  the  face  of  an  assailing 
world.  Yet  his  character  contains  also  every  element 
of  beauty.  He  is  tender  as  a  woman,  devoted  in  His 
love  of  man,  humble  and  meek,  gentle  and  patient,  too. 
Each  quality  exists  in  accurate  proportion  in  Him  ;  so 
that  we  may  say,  without  hesitation  and  after  the  closest 
examination,  that  the  architecture  of  Christ's  character 
is  absolutely  perfect. 

But  also  the  whole  material  universe  is,  in  another 


STRENGTH  AND  BEAUTY  l8l 

sense,  the  temple  of  God.  God  is  everywhere.  This 
world  is  the  manifestation  of  His  thought.  Even 
Solomon,  when  he  dedicated  the  temple,  knew  this, 
for  he  cried,  "  Will  God  indeed  dwell  on  the  earth  ? 
behold,  the  heaven  and  heaven  of  heavens  cannot 
contain  Thee  ;  how  much  less  this  house  that  I  have 
builded  ?  *  *  *  Hear  Thou  in  heaven,  Thy  dwelling 
place:  and  when  Thou  hearest,  forgive."  And  I  am 
sure  that  the  student  of  nature  will  agree  that  in  this 
sense  also,  "  strength  and  beauty  are  in  His  sanc- 
tuary." We  speak  of  "  the  powers  "  of  nature,  because 
we  cannot  but  be  impressed  by  the  tremendous  sweep 
and  capacity  of  its  forces.  When,  now  and  then,  in 
some  convulsion,  they  appear,  as  in  the  storm  or  earth- 
quake, we  tremble  at  their  awful  might ;  yet  they  are 
always  working,  and  the  vast  and  varied  world  of 
inorganic  objects  is  built  up  by  the  mutual  modifica- 
tions and  interplay  of  these  silent  forces.  It  is  a 
mighty  world,  a  world  of  force,  a  texture  woven  out 
of  motion,  the  investigation  of  which  affords  the 
clearest  proof  of  the  power  of  its  Maker.  And  yet 
who  would  not  say  that  it  is  a  beautiful  world !  By 
wondrous  processes  are  these  mighty  forces  made  to 
play  into  each  other's  hands  so  as  to  produce  exquisite 
beauty.  Think  of  the  hues  of  sunset,  which  no  brush 
can  reproduce  ;  of  the  colors  and  forms  of  vegetable 
life ;  of  the  adjustment  of  part  to  part  in  living  organ- 
isms.    God  must  love  beauty,  we  infer.     The  Creator 


I  82  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

has  not  merely  power,  but  a  mind  of  infinite  skill,  for 
1  le  has  not  only  made  this  mighty  temple  of  force, 
but  He  has  so  beautified  it  that  it  calls  for  the  song  of 
the  poet  and  the  joy  of  the  artist,  as  well  as  the 
admiration  of  the  man  of  science. 

"  There  is  a  voiceless  eloquence  in  earth, 
Telling  of  Him  who  gave  her  wonders  birth  ; 
And  long  may  I  remain  the  adoring  child 
Of  Nature's  majesty,  sublime  or  wild  ; 
Hill,  Hood  and  forest,  mountain,  rock  and  sea — 
All  take  their  terrors  and  their  charms  from  Thee. 
From  Thee— whose  hidden  but  supreme  control, 
Moves  through  the  world,  a  universal  soul." 

But  if  the  text  is  true  of  Jesus  and  of  nature,  it  is 
true  also  of  that  spiritual  temple  of  which  the  New 
Testament  tells  us.  God  dwells  in  His  Church.  "  Ye 
are  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and 
prophets,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  being  the  chief  corner- 
stone, in  whom  all  the  building,  fitly  framed  together, 
groweth  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord  ;  in  whom 
ye  also  are  builded  together  for  a  habitation  of  God 
through  the  Spirit."  So  the  individual  believer  is  said 
to  be  the  temple  of  God,  because  God  dwells  in  him. 
"  Know  ye  not,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  that  ye  are  the 
temple  of  God  and  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in 
you  ?"  It  is  in  this  sense  that  I  wish  to  use  the  words 
of  the  text.  The  sanctuary  of  God  is  a  human  soul 
that  is  governed  and  moulded  by  God.  Such  a  soul 
is   His  temple.      Of  this  is  it  true  that   strength   and 


STRENGTH  AND   BEAUTY  1 83 

beauty  are  in  His  sanctuary.  Or,  to  put  it  in  other 
words,  a  true  Christian  character  is  the  realization  of 
the  highest  ideal  of  what  a  man  should  be. 

There  is  nothing  in  all  this  busy  world  which  is 
of  such  infinite  value  as  are  the  characters  which 
are  being  made.  Every  life  is  the  building  of  a 
character,  and  that  a  character  which,  in  its  essential 
features,  is  to  last  forever.  From  childhood  to  old 
age  the  process  advances.  Sometimes  we  are  uncon- 
scious of  the  work  that  is  going  on  within  us  until 
surprised  by  the  discovery  that  the  structure  is  so  far 
finished  that  it  cannot  be  changed  even  though  we 
wish  to  change  it.  But  whether  we  are  consciously 
directing  the  work  or  not,  the  building  is  going  up. 
Some  are  making  hideous  structures  in  which  they  will 
themselves  be  doomed  to  misery,  making  jails  and 
dungeons  for  their  own  immortal  spirits.  Others  are 
doing  better.  But  everything  a  man  does  reacts  upon 
himself.  If  he  give  his  life  to  helping  others,  he  is 
making  his  own  character  noble.  If  he  is  injuring 
others,  he  is  making  his  own  character  bad.  I  do  not 
think  that  a  man  should  make  it  his  prime  thought  to 
cultivate  himself.  It  is  better  to  forget  himself  and  to 
live  for  others.  But,  even  then,  he  is  making  himself, 
and  every  man  should  at  least  endeavor  to  make  the 
most  out  of  the  materials  which  are  within  him,  the 
opportunities  which  come  to  him,  and  the  helps  which 
are  about  him. 


184  FA  ITU  AND   LIFE 

I  suppose  that  every  one  will  admit  that  a  noble 
character  must  contain  in  high  degree,  and  in  right 
proportions,  just  these  two  elements  of  which  our 
text  speaks, — strength  and  beauty.  There  must  be 
strength  of  character.  You  cannot  make  a  house  out 
of  sand,  because  the  particles  do  not  cohere  to  one 
another.  Neither  can  you  make  a  worthy  character 
out  of  irresolution,  vacillation,  doubt,  fear,  instability. 
A  true  man  must  have  ruling  convictions,  concentra- 
tion and  constancy  of  purpose,  firmness  in  the  right  as 
he  sees  it,  power  to  endure  reverses,  positive  purposes 
and  ideas.     These  make  a  strong-  character. 

A  true  man  also  must  have  these  elements  of 
strength  adorned  by  gentler  virtues.  Manliness  is  not 
mere  strength.  That  was  the  old  pagan  idea,  which 
has  been  replaced  by  a  better.  There  must  be  refine- 
ment of  feeling,  humanity  and  benevolence,  gentleness 
and  patience.  These  make  character  beautiful.  And 
the  two  elements  must  combine  in  right  proportion. 
A  merely  strong  character  is  as  one-sided  and  im- 
perfect as  a  pugilist  is  an  abnormal  specimen  of 
physical  manhood.  A  merely  gentle,  loving  character 
is  often  pitiably  weak  and  unpractical.  The  two  must 
unite,  and,  as  in  good  architecture,  so  in  good  character- 
building,  the  beauty  must  not  exist  for  its  own  sake, 
but  to  adorn  the  strength.  A  true  man  is  strong  in 
his  convictions,  but  gentle  in  his  judgments  ;  constant 
of  purpose,  but  gentle  to  the  weak  and  mindful   of 


STRENGTH  AND  BEAUTY  1 85 

others'  rights ;  positive,  but  humble ;  energetic,  but 
meek  ;  able  to  fight  when  necessary,  but  always  de- 
sirous of  peace.  This  is  the  ideal  which  Christianity 
has  taught  the  world,  and  which  the  world  is  slowly 
coming  to  understand.  It  is  the  ideal  of  character 
which  I  would  hold  before  you  ;  and  my  declaration 
is  that  a  true  Christian  alone  will  be  able  to  realize 
this  ideal.  Only  if  your  souls  are  God's  temples  can 
you  be  true  men ;  for  strength  and  beauty  are  in  His 
sanctuary. 

Let  me  briefly  suggest  the  elements  of  strength  in 
a  Christian  character. 

It  is  made  out  of  strong  material.  What  is  the 
material  which  composes  Christian  character?  It  is, 
to  express  it  in  one  phrase,  the  confidence  of  being, 
for  Christ's  sake,  reconciled  with  God.  That  is  the 
granite  of  which  the  living  sanctuary  of  God  is  built. 
Like  the  granite,  it  is  composed  of  several  elements. 
It  is,  for  example,  an  intense  belief,  and  any  man  who 
believes  anything  with  all  his  might  is  so  far  forth  a 
strong  man.  The  strong  men  of  all  history  have  been 
intense  believers :  believers  in  an  idea,  or  believers  in  a 
theory,  or,  if  nothing  more,  believers  in  themselves. 
But  no  man  is  strong  in  whom  doubt  is  a  permanent 
quality,  and  the  mere  fact  that  a  Christian  believes  is 
of  itself  an  element  of  strength. 

But,  besides  belief,  this  Christian  character  is  com- 
posed of  love  to  God.     That  of  itself  means  much.     It 


I  86  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

means  that  a  great  change  has  passed  over  the  man's 
soul,  whereby  the  naturally  selfish  tendency  of  his 
disposition  has  been  forever  reversed.  If  I  may  con- 
tinue the  figure  of  stone,  I  would  say  that  a  new  law 
of  crystallization  has  taken  control  of  the  elements  of 
character,  so  that  instead  of  the  tendency  to  disinte- 
grate, it  now  becomes  harder  and  harder  through  being 
in  love  with  God.  The  man  has  now  found  the  right 
law  of  his  being.  He  appreciates  the  supreme  beauty 
and  authority  of  God.  He  takes  from  God  his  stand- 
ard of  life.  He  desires  to  be  like  God.  He  is  con- 
fident that  God  is  ruling  the  world,  and  therefore  he 
does  not  fear  men,  nor  fear  trial,  nor  doubt  about  the 
issue.  A  man  who  thus  loves  and  trusts  God  cannot 
but  be  a  strong  character.  He  will  not  be  easily 
moved  by  any  temptation.  He  will  not  be  unduly 
anxious  about  the  future.  He  will  be  in  no  hurry. 
He  will  have  the  calm  assurance  that,  be  the  present 
mysteries  what  they  may,  all  is  going  well.  And  he 
will  feel  that  his  life  is  inseparably  linked  with  the 
Highest  One  himself.  "  Love  is  strong  as  death," 
says  the  old  writer :  and  if  we  see  instances  of  the 
love  of  man  to  man  in  which  this  is  true,  much 
more  is  it  true  that  in  proportion  as  a  human  soul 
loves  God  will  it  be  firm  against  evil  and  strong 
for  all  good.  The  mighty  granite  masses  out  of 
which  we  quarry  the  material  for  our  great  buildings 
were   once   in  a    fluid,    molten    state,    but    they    have 


STRENGTH  AND  BEAUTY  1 87 

crystallized  into  the  hardest  of  rocks.  So  will  belief 
in  God  and  Christ,  and  love  to  God  in  Christ,  crys- 
tallize a  soul  into  the  strongest  of  characters. 

Then,  too,  a  Christian  character  has  a  strong  foun- 
dation as  well  as  strong  material.  The  sanctuary 
of  God  is  built  on  the  rock.  I  mean  that  underneath 
a  Christian's  life  there  lies  the  finished  redemption 
which  Jesus  Christ  has  made  for  all  who  will  accept 
it.  That  court-house  could  not  have  been  built  on 
springing  ground  or  on  wooden  piles  driven  in  a 
marsh.  The  first  requirement  for  a  large  building  is 
a  good  foundation.  So,  I  say,  the  strength  of  a 
Christian  character  lies  not  only  in  the  material  out 
of  which  it  is  made,  but  in  the  foundation  on  which 
it  stands.  It  stands  on  Christ,  the  Rock  of  Ages. 
"  Whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine,  and 
doeth  them,"  said  Jesus,  "  I  will  liken  him  unto  a 
wise  man  which  built  his  house  upon  a  rock."  Un- 
derneath the  Christian  is  the  atonement  for  him 
which  Jesus  offered  on  Calvary,  and  the  promise  of 
God  to  justify  every  believer,  and  the  power  of  the 
Saviour,  who  is  even  now  sitting  at  the  right  hand 
of  God,  ruling  and  defending  us,  and  interceding  in 
our  behalf.  That  is  a  strong  foundation.  Think  of  a 
life  which  stands  on  such  a  rock  as  that.  The  strength 
of  a  character  depends  on  what  it  has  in  reserve,  on 
what  is  behind  the  outward  appearance,  as  much  as  on 
what  is  visible.     If  so,  that   is  the  strongest  character 


I  88  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

which  has  underneath  it  and  round  about  it  the  ever- 
lasting arms. 

Then  a  Christian  character  has  strong  supports. 
Its  parts  are  held  together  by  strong  beams.  Its 
top  rests  on  strong  pillars.  These  are  such  as  the 
following.  It  has  a  definite  aim  given  to  its  life,  and 
one  which  reason  and  conscience  declare  to  be  the 
highest.  It  lives  for  God.  It  blesses  man  in  order  to 
serve  God.  It  sees  in  even  the  commonest  work  an 
opportunity  of  obedience  to  the  heavenly  Father ;  and 
through  all  varieties  of  the  fortunes  and  vicissitudes  of 
life  one  crowning  purpose,  one  holy  spirit  runs.  It  is 
also  cheered  by  the  assurance  of  God's  love.  Its  love 
to  God  is  no  unreturned  affection.  On  the  contrary, 
it  has  itself  been  evoked  in  answer  to  God's  love  to 
man.  So  the  warmth  of  God's  love  is  ever  fall- 
ing on  a  Christian  character.  It  is  supported  by  the 
promises,  as  by  mighty  pillars,  which  no  Samson  of 
infidelity  can  pull  down.  It  is  held  together  by  divine 
commands,  as  by  iron  beams  which  apportion  to  each 
part  of  its  life  its  proper  works,  as  a  building  is  divided 
into  rooms  and  stories  ;  while  from  above  the  sunlight 
of  hope  falls  from  a  never-clouded  sky. 

Is  there  not  strength  in  this  sanctuary  ?  Such  a 
man  is  a  strong  character.  The  foundation  on  which 
he  rests,  the  material  out  of  which  his  character  is 
composed,  the  supports  by  which  it  is  upheld  and 
arranged,  are  all  of  granite  and  of  iron.     Such  a  char- 


STRENGTH  AND  BEAUTY  1 89 

acter  is  worth  having.  Its  possessor  will  have  a  con- 
stant source  of  satisfaction.  He  cannot  but  be  useful 
to  others.  He  will  be  able  to  guide  the  thoughts  of 
others.  He  will  be  one  on  whom  other  men  will  lean 
in  their  times  of  need.  Oh,  as  we  see  some  men  tossed 
to  and  fro  by  doubts  until  they  hardly  know  what  to 
trust  and  what  to  hope  for;  as  we  see  others  yielding 
like  unmanly  slaves  to  every  assault  of  temptation, 
afraid  of  men,  afraid  of  pain,  afraid  of  themselves ;  and 
trembling  as  with  weak  hearts  they  think  of  death  and 
the  hereafter;  we  point  you  with  joy  to  the  possibility 
of  every  one  becoming  strong  and  useful  and  great, 
by  opening  your  soul  to  the  God  who  is  willing  to 
inhabit  it.  Strength  is  in  His  sanctuary.  If  you  let 
Him  be  your  master-builder,  you  may  be  strong. 

Yes,  and  your  lives  may  be  beautiful  as  well  as 
strong.  For  beauty,  too,  is  in  His  sanctuary.  Cer- 
tainly, it  is  better  to  be  strong  than  to  be  beautiful. 
The  elements  of  strength  are  those  which  do' the  most 
important  work.  It  is  better  that  a  building  should 
be  strong  than  that  it  should  be  ornamental.  And  the 
same  is  true  of  character  as  well.  Ornament,  more- 
over, ought  to  overlay  strength.  It  is  not  good  art  to 
put  into  a  building  a  useless  feature  merely  because  it 
is  beautiful.  The  true  artist  will  beautify  the  useful. 
The  practical  purpose  will  be  first.  So  a  character 
which  aims  to  be  merely  beautiful  is  not  to  be  admired. 
It  becomes  mere  bric-a-brac.     It  has  the  taint  of  cos- 


190  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

metics.  The  man  who  is  absorbed  in  the  mere  adorn- 
ment of  his  character  is  not  much  beyond  the  man 
who  is  absorbed  in  the  adornment  of  his  body.  No, 
beauty  must  be  superimposed  upon  strength.  The 
practical  usefulness  and  moral  power  of  life  are  to  be 
the  first  things  sought.  Then  you  have  something 
worth  adorning.  It  is  the  hard  stones  which  take  the 
best  polish.  It  is  the  strong,  earnest  characters  which 
may  be  made  the  most  beautiful. 

But,  this  being  understood,  beauty  is  to  be  desired. 
Let  me  point  out,  in  a  word,  the  beauty  of  a  true 
Christian  life.  To  my  mind,  it  consists  in  the  right 
proportion  in  which  every  element  of  a  complete  man- 
hood exists  in  it.  This  certainly  is  one  of  the  prime 
elements  of  beauty  of  form,  whether  in  man  or  other 
things ;  and  a  beautiful  mind  or  character  is,  I  think, 
one  marked  by  this  same  quality.  A  beautiful  life  is 
one  which  fulfills  the  relations  in  which  it  is  placed,  and 
estimates  each  one  of  them  at  the  right  value.  It  can 
perform  the  sterner  duties  and  not  neglect  the  gentler 
ones.  It  knows  when  to  work  and  when  to  play.  It 
renders  the  tribute  due  to  superiors,  inferiors,  and 
equals.  In  each  period  of  its  existence  it  realizes  the 
idea  of  that  period.  Most  lives  are  obviously  incom- 
plete. The  material  side  crushes  the  spiritual ;  the 
near  obscures  the  distant ;  a  little  truth  hides  a  greater 
one.  Most  lives  are  also  obviously  ill  balanced.  The 
hurry  to  be  rich  strangles  the  duty  to  be  just.     The 


STRENGTH  AND  BEAUTY  191 

desire  to  be  great  prevents  the  possibility  of  being 
kind.  The  love  of  pleasure  mortgages  the  pleasure 
of  the  future  for  the  apparent  pleasure  of  the  present. 
Do  I  not  declare  something  to  which  your  consciences 
assent  when  I  say  that  the  ordinary  life  of  a  worldly 
man  is  consciously  incomplete  and  ill  balanced,  and 
that  even  if  it  be  successful,  and  even  if  it  have  the  ele- 
ments of  strength,  it  is  not  beautiful?  It  is  a  distorted 
life.  It  is  a  deformed  life.  It  is  a  misshapen  life.  It 
neglects  as  much  as  it  attempts  to  perform. 

I  point  you,  therefore,  to  the  beauty  of  a  Christian 
life.  I  do  not  say  the  life  of  all  Christians,  for  the 
best  of  us  are  far  from  perfect ;  but  I  point  you  to  the 
life  which  has  had  one  perfect  exemplification  and  to 
which  we  all  aspire.  The  Christian  idea  of  life  is 
beautiful  as  well  as  strong.  It  considers  its  duties  to 
God  as  well  as  those  to  men.  It  praises  the  passive 
virtues  as  much  as  the  active.  It  does  not  allow  the 
material  to  smother  the  spiritual,  nor  the  spiritual  to 
despise  the  material.  It  stoops  to  little  things,  and 
aspires  to  great  things.  It  teaches  man's  responsibility 
for  motives  as  well  as  his  accountability  for  acts  and 
words.  It  lives  in  the  world  and  yet  above  the  world. 
It  combines  faith  in  the  transitory  character  of  all  earthly 
things,  with  energy  in  the  performance  of  present  duty. 
It  reconciles  sorrow  and  joy  in  human  existence.  It 
puts  man  in  his  proper  sphere,  directs  his  eye  toward 
eternity,  enables  him  to  walk  and  live  happily  on  earth, 


I92  FA IIJI  AND   LIFE 

makes  him   useful,  and  teaches  him  to  die  with  peace 

and  hope. 

This  is  the  life  of  a  soul  which  is  the  temple  of  the 
living  God.  Do  you  not  feel  that,  as  a  whole,  it  is 
complete,  and  that  in  its  parts  it  is  rightly  propor- 
tioned ?  Aye,  strength  and  beauty  are  in  His  sanc- 
tuary. I  have  seen  such  characters ;  doubtless  you 
have,  too.  I  have  seen  them  suffer  without  faint- 
ing, work  without  murmuring,  believe  against  hope. 
I  have  seen  them  live  with  God  as  truly  and  as  mani- 
festly as  they  lived  in  their  own  homes.  This 
model  I  hold  up  to  you.  If  you  want  to  be  a 
character  of  this  type,  the  secret  of  it  lies  before 
you.  Not  by  making  your  souls  the  abode  of 
envy  and  selfishness  and  passion  can  your  char- 
acter become  strong  and  beautiful.  Not,  if  you 
merely  fill  your  mind  with  knowledge,  though  it 
be  useful  knowledge,  can  you  rise  to  a  complete 
manhood.  You  must  admit  God  into  your  hearts. 
He  will  make  your  souls  strong  and  beautiful. 

His  Son  is  the  one  unblemished  example  of  a  sanc- 
tuary without  a  flaw  or  weakness.  Yet  you  may  be  con- 
formed unto  the  image  of  His  Son.  I  pray  you  to  make 
your  souls  His  home.  Remember  that  you  are  build- 
ing characters — that  everything  you  think  and  do  helps 
to  improve  or  mar  them.  Remember  that  character 
bears  the  power  of  retribution  in  itself,  and  that  the 
character  you  build  will  be  either  your  prison  or  your 


STRENGTH  AND  BEAUTY  1 93 

palace,  your  torture  or  your  blessing,  your  hell  or 
your  heaven.  Remember  that  you  were  made  to  be 
the  dwelling-place  of  God,  and  that  the  very  capacity 
of  goodness  and  greatness  which  is  within  you  will 
make  the  ruin  more  disastrous  if  you  fall.  Make,  then, 
God  welcome  to  your  soul.  Admit  Him.  Enthrone 
Him.  Place  Him  in  the  holy  of  holies.  Make  your  life 
to  centre  in  Him  and  His  word.  Strength  and  beauty 
are  in  His  sanctuary,  and  you  will  find  it  so.  Be  you 
the  weakest,  be  you  the  vilest,  you  will  become  all  that 
a  man  should  be,  for  His  strength  will  become  your 
strength,  His  beauty  your  beauty.  Build  your  char- 
acter for  God  and  by  God's  help.  Be  a  true  Christian ; 
so  will  you  become  a  true  man. 

13 


XI 

THE  FALSE  AND  THE  TRUE  MEASUREMENT 

" — But  they,  measuring  themselves  by  themselves,  and  comparing 
themselves  among  themselves,  are  not  wise." — 2  Cor.  x.  12. 

To  some  people  the  world  is  very  small.  They 
know  but  a  little  part  of  it,  and  this  they  imagine  to 
be  all  there  is.  Or,  if  not  ignorant,  they  think  that 
only  the  part  with  which  they  are  intimately  connected 
is  worth  knowing  or  considering.  To  them  this 
is  practically  the  world.  They  belong  to  a  small 
circle  which  plays  the  same  part  in  their  lives  that  em- 
pires and  millions  play  in  the  lives  of  nations.  It  may 
be  a  social,  a  political,  a  literary,  or  a  religious  coterie ; 
or  it  may  combine  several  of  these  characteristics. 
But  its  smile  is  their  joy,  its  frown  their  sorrow.  To 
stand  first  in  it  is  their  ambition.  Their  keenest 
pleasure  is  its  applause ;  their  deepest  mortification  is 
its  contempt.  It  gives  them  their  standard  of  living ; 
it  prescribes  their  rewards  and  their  privations ;  it 
creates  and  limits  their  aspirations.  In  short,  their 
little  coterie  is  their  world,  and  within  its  circle  there 
rage  all  the  passions  and  there  exist  all  the  pleasures 
of  a  larger  life,  just  as  a  drop  of  water,  under   the 

microscope,  looks  like  a  little  sea. 

195 


I96  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

Yet  the  real  world  without  may  not  even  be  aware 
that  their  little  coterie  exists.  It  is,  in  fact,  but  a 
squad  of  a  company  in  a  regiment  of  a  brigade  in 
a  single  division  of  the  army.  Were  it  annihilated, 
the  loss  would  not  be  great.  To  those  who  have  seen 
more  of  the  world,  its  rewards  appear  trifling  and  its 
opposition  is  a  matter  of  indifference.  Its  standards 
are  seen  to  fall  far  short  of  reality.  It  is  a  petty  affair 
itself,  and  its  measurements  and  comparisons  are  pre- 
sumptuous or  amusing.  Whether  it  be  a  king's  court, 
or  a  religious  sect,  or  a  social  clique,  or  any  other 
kind  of  fraternity,  its  ambitions  and  jealousies  and 
laurels,  to  one  who  has  become  aware  of  a  greater 
world  beyond  it,  appear  as  insignificant  as  a  child's 
life  does  in  comparison  with  a  man's. 

Nevertheless,  in  these  little  spheres  are  our  lots  cast. 
We  cannot  be  citizens  of  the  world.  We  must  be 
identified  with  particular  places  and  people.  It  is  only 
the  narrow  spirit  which  mistakes  our  circle  for  the 
world  against  which  we  are  to  contend.  To  be  really 
wise,  we  must  learn  to  look  beyond  our  own  con- 
tracted sphere ;  must  catch  sight  of  the  real  world 
outside  of  it ;  must  try  to  realize  the  small  part  which 
we  and  our  company  play  in  the  life  of  the  countless 
host  of  humanity;  must  seek  to  find  the  fuller  truth 
which  lies  beyond,  and  then  must  return  to  the  little 
world  in  which  we  must  needs  live,  bringing  into  it 
the  standards  and  the  aims  which  are  drawn  from  the 


THE  FALSE  AND    THE    TRUE   MEASUREMENT  1 97 

greater  world  without,  and  by  which  even  the  least 
affairs  may  be  dignified  and  made  honorable. 

I  see  this  idea  intimated  in  our  text.  It  appears  that 
the  little  Corinthian  church  had  become  such  a  narrow 
coterie  as  I  have  described,  and  the  great  apostle 
was  sorely  vexed  by  its  divisions  and  its  jealousies. 
It  was  split  into  parties,  and  amid  their  contentions 
the  greater  Church  without  and  the  world-wide  mission 
of  the  Gospel  were  forgotten.  They  were  chiefly  con- 
cerned with  the  eloquence  of  this  or  that  preacher. 
They  probably  thought  that  there  was  no  church  so 
important  as  that  in  Corinth,  and  began  to  boast  of 
themselves  over  against  each  other  and  those  outside, 
until  the  heart  of  St.  Paul  was  ready  to  break  with 
grief  over  their  folly. 

In  contrast  with  his  broad,  catholic  mind,  how 
petty  seem  their  shameful  brawls !  From  his  point 
of  view  this  was  but  one  of  many  churches  ;  Greece 
but  one  of  many  lands.  The  world  was  the  object 
of  his  solicitude.  His  plans  embraced  the  Roman 
Empire  itself.  His  laurels,  too,  were  those  given  not 
by  man,  but  by  God.  His  whole  estimate  of  him- 
self and  of  them,  and  his  view  of  truth  and  life,  were 
in  magnificent  contrast  to  their  narrow  and  petty  spirit. 
His  was  the  eye  of  a  statesman  and  the  heart  of  a 
pioneer,  and  he  seems  to  have  expressed  himself 
moderately  when  he  assured  them,  in  view  of  their 
little    cliques    and    parties,    that    they    who    measure 


198  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

themselves  by  themselves,  and  compare  themselves 
among  themselves,  are  not  wise. 

Let  us  take  this,  as  we  have  seen,  a  too  common 
error,  and  see  if,  in  principle,  it  be  not  the  great  error 
of  mankind, — if  it  be  not  the  practical  mistake  by 
which,  more  than  by  aught  else,  men's  consciences  are 
dulled,  their  desire  for  true  character  is  perverted,  and 
an  appreciation  of  Jesus  Christ  is  prevented.  We 
have  spoken  of  the  little,  trivial  coteries  in  which 
men  often  find  their  world.  Let  us  now  look  not 
at  them,  but  at  the  actual  world  itself,  and  see  how 
men,  in  like  manner,  take  from  it  their  standards  and 
measurements,  unmindful  of  what  still  lies  beyond  it. 

Is  not  this  the  common  way  ?  Men  measure  them- 
selves among  themselves,  and  compare  themselves 
with  themselves.  Human  society  is  the  gauge  of 
virtue.  This  world's  laurels  are  its  sole  desire. 
The  frown  of  the  world  chills  the  heart ;  its  transient 
applause  fills  the  heart  with  joy.  Men  are  afraid  to 
face  the  ridicule  or  opposition  of  others.  They  imitate 
each  other  slavishly.  One  rich  or  successful  man 
becomes  a  model  to  a  hundred.  What  society  thinks, 
is  esteemed  to  be  truth  and  right.  Social  custom  is 
law.  In  fine,  the  common  way  of  the  world  is  to 
make  it  the  measure  of  its  own  virtue  and  the  giver  of 
its  own  reward.  It  is  only  a  larger  coterie.  Its  prin- 
ciple of  judgment  is  but  the  working  out,  on  a  wider 
scale,  of  the  narrowness  of  folly  which  the  world  itself 


THE  FALSE  AND    THE    TRUE  MEASUREMENT   1 99 

satirizes  when  it  is  practised  in  some  smaller  circle 
within  its  own  bounds.  For,  meanwhile,  one  who  has 
caught  sight  of  a  still  greater  universe  beyond  this 
world,  feels  that  the  world's  standard  is  still  too  small. 
This  is  the  very  thing  which  in  all  ages  and  in  all 
religions  has  made  prophets  and  martyrs.  The  world 
itself  honors  those  who  have  denied  and  defied  its 
standards.  They  have  believed  that  its  rewards  were 
not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  those  which  a  greater 
world  would  give.  They  have  believed  that  they 
saw  truth  scouted  or  perverted  by  society,  and  have 
chosen  to  live  for  it,  in  spite  of  society's  customs. 
To  them,  therefore,  the  world  at  large  is  guilty  of 
the  same  folly  of  which  the  narrowest  clique  is. 

You  take  one  who  has  always  lived  in  a  secluded 
place  and  introduce  him  to  the  business  or  society 
of  a  metropolis,  and  the  effect  upon  him  will  fairly 
illustrate  what  inspiration  works  in  a  mind  when  it 
reveals  to  it  the  issues  of  this  life,  and  the  measure- 
ments which  prevail  in  the  vaster  world  beyond  our 
present  range  of  vision.  From  such  a  revelation  one 
returns  with  an  oppressive  sense  of  the  partiality  and 
pettiness  of  this  world's  judgments,  and  with  the  feel- 
ing that  many  of  them  will  be  forever  reversed  when 
life  is  measured  by  the  standard  of  absolute  truth  and 
worth. 

Let  me  point  out  some  of  the  ways  in  which 
this  folly  is  practised,  and  the  first  two  shall  be  ways 


200  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

in  the  criticism  of  which  we  shall  doubtless  all  be 
agreed. 

Take  the  matter  of  culture  or  knowledge.  Who 
is  the  wise  man  ?  Shall  we  decide  this  by  measur- 
ing ourselves  by  ourselves,  and  comparing  ourselves 
among  ourselves  ?  Some  do  so.  The  besetting  sin 
of  culture  is  pride,  and  this  because  it  is  so  prone  to 
compare  itself  favorably  with  the  less  educated  mul- 
titude. It  is  apt  to  congratulate  itself  that  it  knows 
more  than  others.  It  has  read  more  widely.  It  is 
familiar  with  more  languages.  It  has  accumulated  a 
larger  store  of  facts.  It  has  studied  Nature  and  the 
sciences,  and  is  instructed  in  the  wonderful  discoveries 
and  the  equally  wonderful  theories  of  the  day.  In  its 
coarser  forms,  this  becomes  mere  pedantry.  The  man 
who  boasts  of  his  education  must  have  a  very  low 
standard.  Nothing  is  more  offensive  than  such  pe- 
dantry, with  its  displays  of  learning  which  are  so 
often  combined  with  really  profound   ignorance. 

True  culture  is  not  guilty  of  this  folly, — and  for 
the  reason  that  it  is  more  impressed  by  the  greater 
amount  yet  to  be  known  than  by  the  compara- 
tively little  which  has  been  acquired.  Instead  of 
comparing  itself  with  the  ignorance  of  others,  it  will 
think  of  those  who  are  still  more  advanced  and  press 
on  toward  their  place.  Is  its  study  history?  It  will 
caution  us  in  drawing  inferences,  and  make  us  con- 
scientious   in    the    investigation    of  facts.       Is    nature 


THE   FALSE  AND    THE    TRUE  MEASUREMENT  201 

its  study  ?  It  will  recognize  that  but  a  little  space 
has  been  cleared,  and  vastly  more  is  still  shrouded 
in  darkness.  Hence  humility  is  an  essential  mark 
of  true  culture.  It  will  be  ready  to  admit  mis- 
takes. It  will  feel  the  need  of  caution.  It  will 
wholly  revolt  from  the  measurements  which  the 
world  is  apt  to  make,  and  feel  rather  that  they  are 
not  worthy  to  be  named  in  the  presence  of  the 
ideal  of  truth  and  knowledge  which  the  really  wise 
man  has. 

Or  turn  from  culture  to  consider  social  position.  Who 
is  the  great  man  ?  Who  is  the  honorable  man  ?  Shall 
we  decide  by  measuring  ourselves  by  ourselves,  and 
comparing  ourselves  among  ourselves  ?  Some  do  so. 
One  is  a  little  richer  than  another ;  one  thinks  himself 
a  little  better  born  and  bred.  One  has  mounted  on  a 
little  pinnacle  of  political  fame,  and  for  the  moment  is 
the  object  of  all  eyes.  The  world  is  full  of  such  little 
great  men, — great  in  the  view  of  this  or  that  nation, — 
it  may  be  only  of  this  or  that  party ;  and  by  compar- 
ing the  outward  state  of  men's  lives, — by  measuring 
their  fortunes  or  their  renown, — the  world  is  apt  to  de- 
cide who  shall  bear  its  honorable  names.  Yet  the  world 
itself  knows  that  its  estimate  is  false,  and  it  ridicules  the 
favored  objects  of  its  own  judgment.  It  cannot  help 
seeing  that  time  changes  the  relative  positions  of  men, 
and  that  what  is  so  changeable  cannot  be  of  real  worth. 
Society  is  almost  as  restless  and  varying  as  the  waves 


202  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

of  the  sea;  now  the  drops  are  on  the  crest,  and 
now  they  are  in  the  trough  of  the  billows.  The  world, 
I  say,  itself  feels  that  character  is  the  only  test  of  real 
worth,  as  it  is  the  only  thing  that  lasts  through  the 
changes,  and  that  character  must  be  judged  by  a  far 
higher  standard  than  that  which  ordinary  society  em- 
ploys. To  rely  on  the  judgments  of  society  in  this 
matter  is  folly,  for  these  judgments  are  soon  reversed. 
There  must  be  another  test,  found  not  in  society,  but 
in  the  great  ideals  of  virtue,  purity,  and  righteousness, 
of  which  ordinary  society  is  but  dimly  conscious,  but 
which,  in  reality,  decide  true  worth. 

So  far,  I  suppose,  all  will  agree,  and  yet  we  have  not 
applied  the  principle  in  the  really  most  important 
direction.  We  have  only  to  apply  it  to  morals  in 
order  to  become  aware  of  the  real  danger  which  lurks 
in  our  common  error.  For,  let  us  ask,  Who  is  the 
good  man  ?  Shall  we  decide  this,  too,  by  measuring 
ourselves  by  ourselves,  and  comparing  ourselves 
among  ourselves  ?  Many  do  so.  Is  not  this,  in  fact, 
the  common  way  of  estimating  moral  characters  ? 
Men  say,  "  The  good  man  is  he  who  fulfils  the  social 
standard."  Society  requires  a  certain  amount  of 
honesty,  a  certain  amount  of  decency,  ordinary  truth- 
fulness, general  morality  of  life.  It  is  not  particular  as 
to  the  motives  from  which  these  spring.  It  is  content 
with  the  thing  itself.  Neither  is  it  particular  about  the 
decree  to  which  these  are  carried.     If  men  are  hard 


THE  FALSE  AXD    THE    TRUE   MEASUREMENT  203 

pressed,  they  may  quietly  violate  the  social  standard 
without  much  danger. 

But  the  gauge  of  goodness  is  the  outward  habits 
of  society,  the  common  customs  of  the  country. 
It  is  a  standard  which  does  not  concern  itself  with 
the  motives  which  lie  beneath  conduct,  or  with  the 
heaven  which  lies  above  it,  but  only  with  the  society 
which  lies  about  it  and  on  the  same  plane  with 
itself.  Hence  the  practical  test  of  goodness  is 
just  this  comparison  of  one  with  another.  Men 
say,  "  Look  at  the  vicious,  the  criminal  classes,  that 
violate  with  impunity  the  social  laws :  are  we  not 
much  better  than  they?  Nay,  look  at  the  men  of 
our  class.  I  am  as  honest  as  yonder  Christian  ;  as 
self-respecting,  as  much  trusted  in  the  world.  I  am 
not  guilty  of  the  follies  in  which  these  others  quietly 
indulge.  I  am  not  mean  or  stingy  like  some  one  else 
I  know.  I  am  quite  as  liberal  as  those  who  belong  to 
the  Church."  Such  is  the  theory  of  many  people,  and 
such  the  practice  of  many  more.  They  measure  them- 
selves by  themselves,  and  compare  themselves  among 
themselves.  The  whole  question  of  their  own  moral 
worth  is  decided  by  a  comparison  of  their  own  with 
the  virtues  or  vices  of  other  men.  They  never  rise 
beyond  the  judgment  of  this  world.  In  a  multitude 
of  ways,  both  great  and  little,  their  whole  estimate  of 
goodness  turns  on  differences  which  may  be  noted  in 
mankind  itself. 


204  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

Now  we  say,  with  the  apostle,  of  such  a  doctrine 
of  goodness,  that  it  is  not  wise :  both  because  it  is 
necessarily  proud  and  because  it  is  evidently  partial. 
It  is  proud.  There  is  in  it  the  very  essence  of  self- 
righteousness.  The  most  it  can  do  for  a  man  is  to 
make  him  satisfied  with  himself.  If  he  comes  up  to  its 
mark,  he  is  apt  to  be  conceited  and  boastful ;  perhaps 
not  offensively,  but  yet  in  a  quiet,  complacent  way, 
undoubtedly  so.  Its  judgment  does  not  go  beyond 
that  of  the  Pharisee :  "  God,  I  thank  Thee  that  I 
am  not  as  other  men  are."  Then  it  is  evidently  a 
partial  and  ignorant  estimate.  It  is  ignorant  in  its 
judgment  of  other  people.  What  does  this  com- 
placent critic  know  of  the  real  life  of  the  neighbors 
with  whom  he  favorably  contrasts  himself?  They 
may  have  virtues  of  which  he  knows  absolutely  noth- 
ing. He  is  ignorant,  too,  of  his  own  real  state.  He 
does  not  think  how  his  motives  and  principles  appear 
when  judged  from  a  higher  point  of  view. 

This  is  the  common  morality  of  the  world.  It  is 
the  great  foe  to  the  gospel.  It  is  the  shield  under 
which  multitudes  hide  themselves  from  the  arrows  of 
God's  truth.  And  what  is  it,  when  fairly  examined,  but 
the  same  narrow  and  foolish  spirit  which  in  the  matters 
of  culture  and  social  position  we  are  so  ready  to  con- 
demn ?  Oh,  it  is  impossible  that  this  should  not  be  a 
great  mistake.  If,  from  our  broader  knowledge  of  the 
world  and  of  mankind,  we  look  down  with  disdain  on 


THE   FALSE  AND    THE    TRUE   MEASUREMENT  205 

the  little  cliques  and  coteries  in  which  some  narrow 
minds  find  their  standard  and  their  happiness ;  if  the 
man  who  has  travelled  and  observed  much,  ridicules 
the  pettiness  of  those  who  think  their  little  sect  or 
village  the  pattern  and  gauge  of  the  universe ;  ought 
not  we,  who  too  frequently  find  in  this  larger  world  its 
own  judge  and  own  jury,  to  look  upward  and  beyond 
it,  and  ask  if  there  be  not  a  larger  sphere  still,  of  which 
ours  is  but  a  fragment  ?  God  tells  us  that  there  is. 
Conscience  tells  us  so.  The  very  ideals  of  truth  and 
righteousness  tell  us  so.  There  are  many  moun- 
tain peaks  from  which  we  look  out  on  the  mighty 
universe,  and  from  which  our  hamlets  below  are  scarcely 
visible  ;  and  from  these  ought  you  and  I  to  return  to 
our  daily  spheres  not  to  measure  ourselves  by  our- 
selves, or  to  compare  ourselves  among  ourselves,  but 
rather  convinced  that  it  is  for  man  to  be  humble  in  his 
culture,  humble  in  his  estimate  of  his  own  importance, 
and,  most  of  all,  humble  in  his  opinion  of  his  own 
character  and  moral  deserts. 

Thus,  then,  in  some  way  the  common  error  must 
be  escaped.  Yet  as  men  are  by  nature  they  have 
scarcely  any  other  test  available.  They  have  certain 
instinctive  ideals,  certain  great  aspirations  after  a  nobler 
life,  but  these  are  vague  and  impracticable  instructors. 
Is  there  no  other  standard  by  which  men  may  estimate 
themselves  ?  Let  us  confine  ourselves  to  the  question 
of  goodness.    This  is  the  really  important  question,  and 


206  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

the  one  about  which  there  is  the  most  difference  of 
opinion.  If  we  are  not  to  measure  ourselves  by  our- 
selves, and  compare  ourselves  among  ourselves,  with 
what  arc  we  to  be  measured  and  compared  ? 

The  Bible  answers  this,  as  I  have  intimated,  by  dis- 
closing a  world  above  this.  It  takes  us  to  the  lofty 
tops  of  its  Sinai,  and  Hermon,  and  Olivet,  and  to  the 
spot  called  Calvary,  where  a  still  wider  view  of  the 
unseen  world  is  offered.  The  Bible  does  for  us  in  this 
matter  what  the  Copernican  theory  has  done  for  astron- 
omy. It  locates  this  world  in  its  real  place  and  rela- 
tions in  the  universe.  The  astronomer  has  now  mapped 
out  the  heavens,  and  as  in  fancy  the  mind  flies  under 
his  guidance  through  the  measureless  distances  of 
space, — as  the  multitudinous  stars  resolve  themselves 
into  systems, — one  begins  to  feel  that  the  earth  is  a 
much  smaller  affair  than  we  have  thought ;  that  so  far 
from  being  the  centre  of  the  universe,  it  is  one  of  the 
least  of  its  constituent  members,  and  that,  whatever 
may  be  true  of  the  earth  itself,  the  universe  must  have 
been  created  for  far  wider  ends  than  the  mere  life  of  the 
sons  of  Adam. 

So  does  the  Christian  revelation  disclose  a  spir- 
itual universe  above  this  world.  We  discover  that 
the  battle  between  good  and  evil,  of  which  each  of 
us  knows  something  in  his  own  soul,  is  a  conflict  in 
which  spiritual  powers  of  good  and  evil  are  engaged. 
It  opens  to  us  a  world  of  angelic  and  glorified  beings ; 


THE  FALSE  AND    THE    TRUE   MEASUREMENT  20J 

and  then  it  passes  beyond  even  these  to  disclose  Christ, 
in  whom  there  shines  forth  the  character  of  the  unseen, 
eternal,  infinite  God.  It  does  not  stop  until  it  thus 
reaches  the  centre  and  source  of  all  existence,  and 
from  this  lofty  point  it  shows  that  all  things,  down  to 
the  veiy  least  in  the  scale,  have  worth  according  as 
they  do  or  do  not  fulfil  their  part  in  relation  to  Him 
who  is  above  all.  Here,  then,  we  reach  the  only  point 
of  view  for  a  just  estimate,  and  the  comparison  of  man 
with  man  seems  now  still  more  petty  and  worthless. 
Here  we  discover  the  law  to  be  kept,  the  ideal  to  be 
realized,  the  test  to  be  applied.  Earth  is  but  the 
footstool  of  the  great  King.  We  who  live  at  His  feet 
are  to  see  in  Him  the  measure  of  moral  worth.  "  Be 
ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which  is  in 
heaven  is  perfect." 

Thus  we  learn  what  is  man's  only  true  life,  and 
thereby  we  can  measure  ourselves  as  we  never  can  do 
under  the  influence  of  false  views  of  life  generated  by 
the  world.  The  Lord  told  us  the  great  secret  when  He 
said,  "  This  is  life  eternal  that  they  might  know  Thee 
the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou 
hast  sent " — and  the  apostle  makes  the  practical 
application  of  this  now  open  secret  when  he  sets 
over  against  the  petty  jealousies  and  ambitions  of 
Corinth  this  motto  :  "  He  that  glorieth,  let  him  glory 
in  the  Lord."  His  words  are  quoted  from  Jere- 
miah, and    the   old   prophet's    language  is  worth  re- 


208  FAITH  AND    LIFE 

membcring.  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  he  cried,  "Let 
not  the  wise  man  glory  in  his  wisdom,  neither  let 
the  mighty  man  glory  in  his  might,  let  not  the  rich 
man  glory  in  his  riches :  but  let  him  that  glorieth 
glory  in  this,  that  he  understandcth  and  knoweth 
Me." 

You  see  that  this  is  the  divine  idea  of  what  human 
life  ought  to  be.  It  is  that  manner  of  thinking,  and 
living,  and  acting  which  is  determined  by  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  Himself.  It  differs  from  the  common 
life  of  men  by  being  determined  by  a  different  object. 
The  life  of  most  men,  such  as  I  have  described  it,  is 
determined  by  the  customs,  the  laws,  the  pursuits  of 
other  men,  and  of  the  world.  These  make  up  life's 
environment.  From  them  it  takes  its  standards  and 
tests.  By  them  it  measures  and  compares  itself.  In 
them  it  lives.  But  this  is  not  our  proper  element. 
This  is  not  our  true  life.  We  were  made  to  be  deter- 
mined in  all  our  living  by  God  himself.  This  is  life, 
yea,  eternal  life,  to  know  Him,  the  only  true  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  He  has  sent. 

Take  a  child  of  naturally  fine  abilities  and  of  high 
birth,  and  place  him  amongst  the  poor  and  ignorant, 
and  in  vicious  surroundings,  and  he  will  be  contami- 
nated by  them.  They  will  supply  his  idea  of  life.  If  he 
be  a  little  better  than  most  of  his  associates,  he  will 
still  be  infected  by  their  ways.  Yet  he  was  not  made 
for  that.     He  was  made  for  a  purer  circle  and  a  nobler 


THE  FALSE  AND    THE    TRUE   MEASUREMENT  200, 

lot,  and  he  will  discover  his  true  character,  he  will 
be  able  to  judge  of  his  unfortunate  circumstances,  only 
by  being  taken  back  into  the  place  which  ought  to 
have  been  his  at  the  first  Then  in  a  new  home,  with 
new  friends,  with  better  aims,  he  discovers  his  true 
life,  and  he  looks  back  with  horror  equally  at  the  state 
in  which  he  once  was,  and  at  the  ignorance  with  which 
he  was  then  blinded. 

So  when  God  comes  into  a  man's  sight,  when 
he  knows  God  and  begins  to  love  Him,  a  new  life 
begins.  Then  at  once  the  man's  estimate  of  himself 
changes.  Instead  of  comparing  himself  with  others, 
he  compares  himself  with  God.  Instead  of  thinking 
how  much  he  is  above  others,  he  thinks  how  far  he  is 
below  God.  And,  what  is  still  more  important,  instead 
of  judging  others  and  himself  by  outward  deeds, 
he  judges  himself  at  least  by  the  inner  state  of  his 
heart.  He  feels  that  life  with  God  is  a  matter  not  of 
the  body,  but  of  the  soul,  and  that  every  motive  of 
the  mind  ought  to  be  in  harmony  with  God.  There- 
upon he  begins  to  question  his  motives.  He  looks 
more  narrowly  into  his  passions  and  appetites.  He 
is  ashamed  of  his  thoughts.  He  feels  that  he 
owes  duties  to  God  as  well  as  to  men.  Religion 
becomes  a  necessity  for  him.  His  true  life  is  a 
religious  life.  He  thinks  not  of  human  society  with 
its   narrow  and  changing  views,   but  of  divine  society 

with    its   real    and    eternal    relations.       His    pride    is 
14 


2IO  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

rebuked.  His  selfishness  begins  to  blush.  He  becomes 
aware  of  his  sinfulness.  He  sees  what  he  ought  to  be 
and  knows  that  he  is  not.  He  cries  no  longer,  "  God, 
I  thank  Thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men  are !"  He 
does  not  even  consider  what  other  men  are,  for  at 
them  he  looks  no  longer.  He  looks  at  God,  and  then 
at  his  own  soul,  and  cries,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a 
sinner !" 

I  would  like  you  to  note  in  what  ways  God  has 
provided  for  our  becoming  aware  of  the  true  meas- 
urement of  life.  What  means  does  He  employ  thus 
to  show  us  what  we  ought  to  be  and  are  not  ? 

There  is,  first,  the  revelation  of  His  law, — the  old 
Jewish  way,  and  yet  a  way  still  to  be  used.  He  has 
revealed  to  us  our  duty,  and  it  is  summed  up,  as  Christ 
said,  in  these  words,  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind;  and  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself."  See  what  a  law  this  is !  It 
regards  not  our  acts  so  much  as  our  motives.  Thou 
shalt  love  !  It  makes  God  supreme  and  first.  It  puts 
our  neighbors  on  a  level  with  ourselves.  We  cannot 
but  admit  that  such  would  be  the  noblest  life;  and  this 
is  God's  revealed  law — the  least  violation  of  which  is  sin. 

Paul  describes  the  change  wrought  thus  in  him. 
Once  without  the  law,  when  he  paid  it  no  attention,  he 
was  alive.  He  thought  himself  so.  He  was  proud  of 
his    attainment   of    self-righteousness.       He    was    the 


THE  FALSE  AND    THE    TRUE  MEASUREMENT  211 

typical  Pharisee.  He  measured  himself  with  the  Gen- 
tiles, compared  himself  with  the  publicans.  "  I  am 
holier  than  thou."  But  by  the  grace  of  God  the  com- 
mandment came  to  him,  that  is,  he  realized  its  require- 
ments. He  became  aware  how  far  short  he  had  fallen. 
How  he  had  sinned  against  man  and  God.  He  looked 
at  it  as  an  impossible  peak  that  he  never  could  climb. 
Sin  revived  within  him — he  became  conscious  of  its 
presence — and  he  died — he  felt  himself  a  lost,  dis- 
obedient man.  Let  any  one  now  do  the  same,  face 
the  law,  look  at  its  requirement,  and  even  the  man 
who  by  earthly  measurements  ranks  the  highest,  will 
be  forced  to  say  that,  like  all  the  rest,  he,  too,  is  a 
sinner. 

But  God  has  taken  a  still  more  effective  way  of 
showing  us  the  true  standard.  He  has  embodied  His 
whole  law  in  the  character  of  one,  Jesus  Christ,  His 
Son.  The  character  of  Christ  is  the  simple,  practi- 
cal, universally  applicable  standard  by  which  we  can 
rebuke  the  partial  false  measurements  of  the  world. 
Christ  has  made  a  new  ideal  of  life  for  men.  He  is 
like  the  rising  sun,  in  whose  light  we  see  the  hue  and 
shape  of  things.  How  narrow  the  Jews  look,  how 
poor  the  royalty  of  Herod,  how  presumptuous  the 
claims  of  Rome,  before  Him !  He  has  left  us  an 
example  that  we  should  follow  His  steps ;  "  who  did 
no  sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in  His  mouth :  who, 
when  He  was  reviled,    reviled    not    again  ;  when  He 


2  I  2  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

suffered,  He  threatened  not;  but  committed  Himself  to 
Him  that  judgeth  righteously."  Here  is  living  for 
God  in  its  perfection — by  faith,  by  obedience,  by  self- 
sacrifice,  in  pureness,  in  love.  When  on  earth,  He 
silenced  the  disciples  who  contended  as  to  which  was 
the  greatest,  by  showing  them  that  they  were  to  be 
servants  of  all.  He  awakened  the  sense  of  sin  in  the 
minds  of  all  who  appreciated  His  beauty.  He  was  and 
is  God's  great  rebuke  to  us  as  well  as  our  Saviour, — 
saving  because  rebuking,  leading  to  life  with  God,  be- 
cause showing  the  folly  and  sin  of  life  with  the  world. 

Let  a  man  bring  himself  into  Christ's  presence,  and 
he  will  feel  that  his  life  needs  renovation.  Though, 
measuring  himself  with  others,  he  may  be  inclined 
to  flatter  his  pride,  it  is  not  so  when  measuring  him- 
self with  Christ.  Here  the  best  and  the  poorest, 
according  to  our  estimate,  say,  "  We  are  not  worthy." 
In  Christ,  man  sees  his  duty  and  his  failure,  his 
ideal  and  his  sad  reality.  The  petty  differences  be- 
tween men  themselves  seem  small  before  this  difference 
between  all  men  and  Christ.  Before  Him  it  is  impos- 
sible to  measure  ourselves  by  ourselves,  and  compare 
ourselves  among  ourselves.  We  are  too  conscious  of 
the  comparison  with  Him,  and  at  the  feet  of  Jesus, 
pride,  self-righteousness,  jealousy,  envy, — all  that  is 
false  and  mean, — hide  their  heads  in  shame,  feeling 
themselves  to  be  only  the  more  condemned. 

I  appeal  to  you  practically   to  make    this  the  test 


THE  FALSE  AND    THE    TRUE  MEASUREMENT  213 

of  yourselves.  Some  of  us  are  under  this  delusion : 
we  measure  ourselves  with  other  people.  We  think 
we  are  as  good  as  they  are,  that  if  they  are  saved, 
certainly  we  shall  be.  Perhaps  meaner  thoughts, — 
jealous  and  envious, — lurk  within.  But  let  us  not 
look  at  others  at  all.  In  this  matter  we  have  nothing 
to  do  with  them.  We  are  before  God.  What  is  His 
judgment  ?  What  is  the  real  truth  ?  I  do  not  see  how 
anyone  can  venture  to  measure  himself  with  Christ 
without  feeling  his  need  of  redemption,  of  entire  re- 
newal ;  his  need  of  atoning  blood  and  of  divine 
spiritual  power.  I  plead  with  you  to  cast  your  self- 
confidence  to  the  winds.  Look  beyond  this  little 
world,  these  narrow  spheres,  the  ignorance  and  blun- 
ders of  common  life ;  look  up  to  God.  Feel  that  you 
were  made  for  Him,  and  that  you  need  Him.  Take 
His  estimate  of  you  rather  than  the  world's.  Take 
His  way  of  salvation.  Think  of  God's  judgment,  and 
seek  from  Jesus  Christ  the  eternal  life. 


XII 

ENOCH 

"And  Enoch  walked  with  God:  and  he  was  not;  for  God  took 
him." — Genesis  v.  24. 

The  men  through  whom  God  speaks  to  us  most 
plainly  are  commonly  exceptional  characters.  In  some 
marked  particulars  they  differ  from  the  common  types, 
and  the  points  in  which  they  differ  are  those  from 
which  we  learn  the  most.  They  emphasize  so  strongly 
some  principle  that  it  becomes  a  peculiar  mark  which 
distinguishes  them  from  other  men,  and  is  apt  to 
absorb  their  whole  attention  and  make  them  in  some 
respects  one-sided  or,  at  least,  men  of  one  idea. 
God  does  not  intend  all  to  be  like  them  in  this, 
but,  in  order  that  the  truth  which  they  convey  may 
be  given  its  fair  share  in  the  attention  of  others, 
it  must  be  intensely  exhibited  in  the  lives  of  a  few. 
Truth  must  sometimes  be  even  exaggerated  in  order 
to  be  established.  It  will  find  afterwards  its  true  place 
and  proportion,  but  at  the  beginning  it  must  be  pro- 
claimed as  if  it  alone  were  true.  They  who  bear  in 
their  lives,  therefore,  the  messages  of  God  to  us  have 
been  exceptional  characters.  The  Bible  often  exhibits 
but  one  view  of  their  lives  in  order  that  it  alone  may 

215 


2l6  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

be  remembered.  They  are  meant  to  stand  out  boldly 
and  in  relief  from  the  common  level  of  the  world  that 
they  may  catch  our  eyes  and  impress  our  minds. 

In  some  such  relief  the  figure  of  Enoch  stands  out 
from  the  dull,  monotonous  list  of  the  antediluvian  patri- 
archs. They  all,  indeed,  appear  to  have  been  excep- 
tions to  the  common  life  and  habits  of  their  distant  age. 
We  know  almost  nothing  of  that  former  world.  The 
Bible  does  not  delay  upon  it,  further  than  to  trace  the 
two  great  lines  of  the  children  of  Cain  and  those  of  Seth. 
It  was  written  for  us  to  whom  the  world  after  the 
flood, — the  world  which  began  again  in  the  children 
of  Noah, — is  practically  the  only  world.  It  hastens 
over  the  long  lives  of  the  early  patriarchs  with  scarcely 
more  than  mention  of  their  names.  We  see  indi- 
cated only  that  among  the  descendants  of  Cain  some 
progress  was  made  in  the  arts ;  that  cities  were 
founded ;  that  the  true  religion  was  preserved  among 
a  few,  while  the  majority  of  men  fell  into  very  evil 
ways ;  that,  as  in  later  times,  the  wicked  persecuted 
the  righteous.  These  are  about  the  only  items  of  in- 
formation that  have  been  handed  down.  The  whole 
race  was  soon  swept  away,  and  history  was  to  take  a 
new  start. '  It  was  unnecessary,  therefore,  to  do  more 
than  connect  the  later  age  with  that  of  the  first  temp- 
tation and  the  fall ;  and  to  do  this  by  recording  the  list 
of  faithful  men  who,  unlike  the  mass  of  their  contem- 
poraries, preserved  from  generation  to  generation  the 


ENOCH  2  1 7 

faith  which  in  the  new  age  after  the  deluge  was  to  be 
first  conserved  and  then  spread  abroad. 

But  while  of  the  other  patriarchs,  whose  long  lives 
connected  Adam,  the  father  of  the  first  world,  with 
Noah,  the  father  of  the  second,  nothing  is  known  be- 
yond the  fact  of  their  existence  and  the  length  of  their 
lives,  the  sacred  writers  have  intimated  that  Enoch 
was  especially  noteworthy.  He  was  evidently  a  vigor- 
ous exception  to  the  society  of  his  day.  He  appears 
to  have  been  a  prophet ;  like  Noah,  too,  a  preacher  of 
righteousness;  and  to  have  boldly  declaimed  against 
the  sins  of  the  men  about  him,  warning  them  of 
their  certain  punishment.  This  we  learn  from  the 
book  of  Jude,  where  that  writer  seems  to  place  the 
seal  of  inspiration  upon  the  common  Jewish  tradi- 
tion of  his  day,  telling  us  that  Enoch,  the  seventh 
from  Adam,  prophesied  against  all  future  unright- 
eousness, saying,  "  Behold,  the  Lord  cometh  with  ten 
thousands  of  His  saints,  to  execute  judgment  upon 
all,  and  to  convince  all  that  are  ungodly  among  them 
of  all  their  ungodly  deeds  which  they  have  ungodly 
committed,  and  of  all  their  hard  speeches  which  un- 
godly sinners  have  spoken  against  Him."  This  single 
extract  gives  us  a  glimpse  into  the  moral  position 
which  Enoch  occupied.  He  was  a  protestant  against 
the  ways  of  the  world  about  him.  He  proclaimed  the 
inevitable  coming  of  the  Lord  to  judgment.  In  the 
eyes  of  the  later  Christian  writer,  Enoch  was  the  first 


2l8  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

of  the  long  line  of  prophets  and  apostles  who  have 
rebuked  the  sins  of  their  several  ages,  and  warned 
men  to  fly  from  the  wrath  to  come. 

But  this  early  prophet  seems  to  have  been  not  only 
an  exception  to  the  mass  of  society  about  him,  but 
exceptional  even  among  the  good.  For  why  else 
should  the  writer  of  Genesis  have  thought  him  worthy 
of  special  comment  even  in  this  meagre  and  rapid 
genealogy  ?  This  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis  is  solemn 
in  its  very  brevity.  It  is  like  the  tolling  of  a  bell, 
announcing  birth  and  death.  It  tells  us  of  the  vanity 
of  life,  when  generations  come  and  go  with  a  mention 
only  of  their  entrance  and  their  exit.  It  is  human  life 
skeletonized.  We  hear  in  it  the  tramp  of  battalions 
of  the  dead.  It  reduces  life  to  its  simplest  elements. 
"  Seth  lived  a  hundred  and  five  years  and  begat  Enos ; 
and  Seth  lived  after  he  begat  Enos  eight  hundred  and 
seven  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters :  and  all 
the  days  of  Seth  were  nine  hundred  and  twelve 
years,  and  he  died."  That  is  a  specimen  of  the  whole. 
Eight  times  the  simple  words  "  and  he  died  "  dismiss, 
as  with  a  gesture,  the  lives  of  men  whose  years 
reached  to  centuries,  and  who  doubtless  did  much 
that  was  noble  and  good  during  the  term  of  their 
pilgrimage.  But  over  Enoch  the  writer  lingers  for  a 
moment.  There  was  something  in  his  religious  life 
worthy  of  special  remembrance.  It  is  summed  up 
in  the  expressive  words,  "  He  walked  with  God."     He 


ENOCH  219 

was  saintlier  than  even  the  saints ;  more  devout  than 
even  the  faithful.  His  reproofs  came  well  from  the  lips 
of  one  who  seemed  to  be  ever  in  the  presence  of  the 
Almighty.  While  the  art  and  the  culture  of  that  dim 
age  have  perished,  while  even  the  good  deeds  of  good 
men  have  been  unrecorded,  the  character  of  the  man 
of  whom  it  was  right  to  say  emphatically  that  he 
walked  with  God,  has  been  preserved  to  be  an  exam- 
ple and  a  stimulus  to  us  men  of  a  new  world  and  a 
later  day. 

That  this  was  no  false  judgment  of  posterity  upon 
the  character  of  Enoch  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
he  was  honored  by  being,  most  of  all,  exceptional 
in  the  manner  of  his  departure  from  earth.  He  did 
not  live  as  long  as  the  rest  of  the  patriarchs.  All 
the  days  of  Enoch  were  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
years.  He  suddenly  disappeared.  It  has  been  sup- 
posed by  some  that  he  was  persecuted,  and  that  the 
simple  phrase,  "God  took  him,"  is  designed  to  intimate 
that  the  Lord  caught  him  away  from  the  hatred  of  a 
wicked  world.  At  any  rate,  long  before  the  natural 
term  of  his  life  was  reached,  "  he  was  not  found,  for 
God  had  translated  him."  We  are  told  nothing  of  the 
manner  of  his  translation.  We  hear  of  no  chariots  of 
fire,  as  in  the  case  of  Elijah.  But,  from  a  life  with 
God  on  earth,  he  was  taken  to  a  closer  life  with  God 
elsewhere,  and  thus  peculiar  honor  was  set  upon  his 
name;  and  as  by  his  character  he  gave  the  world  an 


220  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

example  of  how  to  live,  so  in  his  departure  hence 
he  has  given  a  lesson  of  how  such  a  life    may  end. 

Thus  his  dim  form  becomes  somewhat  more  distinct 
as  we  study  it.  The  moral  of  his  life  is  plain.  He  is 
no  gigantic  myth.  Ignorance  has  not  exaggerated  his 
shape  and  deeds.  The  sober  quiet  of  inspiration  has 
been  maintained  even  in  this  most  ancient  tradition ; 
and  the  name  of  Enoch  suggests  now  just  what  God 
intended  it  to  suggest.  The  exceptional  features  of  his 
life  have  been  preserved  for  our  instruction.  The  rest 
may  perish  with  the  age  to  which  Enoch  belonged. 

We  may  consider  first  the  description  of  his  char- 
acter. He  is  not  the  only  man  in  Scripture  of  whom 
it  is  said  that  he  walked  with  God.  The  same  is 
said  of  Noah;  and  in  one  of  the  Psalms  (the  16th) 
we  find  an  expression  which  intimates  a  like  fellowship. 
"  I  have  set  the  Lord  always  before  me,"  says  David ; 
"  because  He  is  at  my  right  hand,  I  shall  not  be 
moved."  In  connection,  however,  with  most  others 
of  the  ancient  saints  we  have  another  phrase,  express- 
ive of  a  less  intimate  communion  with  God.  Abra- 
ham and  Isaac  and  Jacob  are  said  to  have  walked 
before  the  Lord,  as  though  they  were  ever  mindful  of 
His  watchful  eye.  So  Hezekiah  prayed,  "  I  beseech 
Thee,  O  Lord,  remember  now  how  I  have  walked 
before  Thee  in  truth  and  with  a  perfect  heart,  and  have 
done  that  which  is  good  in  Thy  sight."  The  Psalmist 
likewise  exclaims,  "  I  will  walk  before  the  Lord  in  the 


ENOCH  22 1 

land  of  the  living."  This  phrase,  "  To  walk  with  God," 
seems  to  suggest  more  intimate  companionship.  Very 
often  do  we  see  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  a  process 
of  history  converge ;  and  so  here,  in  the  dawn  of 
religion,  this  patriarch  anticipated  the  closer  fellowship 
with  his  Maker  which  Christ  has  now  instituted  with 
His  people,  but  which  the  Jewish  dispensation,  with  its 
strong  consciousness  of  sin,  did  not  always  as  fully 
exhibit.  We  are  reminded  of  how  Christ  promised, 
"  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,"  and  of  how  He  prayed 
for  us,  "  That  they  all  may  be  one ;  as  Thou,  Father, 
art  in  Me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in 
us."  We  recall  also  the  apostle's  declaration,  "  Our 
fellowship  is  with  the  Father,  and  with  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ."  This,  I  say,  Enoch  did.  By  him  Eden  had 
been  regained,  and,  almost  as  man  had  done  before 
the  fall,  he  walked  with  God. 

Now  we  have  in  this  the  model  of  a  spiritual  Chris- 
tian life,  and  I  would  like  you  to  compare  your  daily 
living  with  this  example.  We  here  see  a  man  on  terms 
of  intimate  fellowship  with  God.  There  is  the  inter- 
change of  thought  between  them.  The  Maker  receives 
the  aspiration,  the  prayer,  and  the  love  of  the  creature  ; 
and  the  creature  receives  directly,  without  any  inter- 
vention, the  truth,  the  love,  the  spiritual  influence  of  his 
Maker.  It  is  the  communion  of  friends, — no  less  real 
because  the  one  is  infinitely  greater  than  the  other. 
What  a  marvellous  truth  this  is !     How  incredible  it 


222  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

has  always  seemed  to  skeptical  minds,  and  equally  so 
to  those  that  are  merely  superstitious.  How  false 
religion  has  cast  man  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  his 
Maker,  like  a  slave  before  a  savage  lord,  utterly 
ignorant  of  the  compassion  of  Him  who  said,  "  I  call 
you  not  servants,  but  friends,  for  all  things  that  I  have 
heard  of  my  Father  I  have  made  known  unto  you  "  ! 
How  philosophy  has  ridiculed  the  notion  of  God  com- 
muning with  man, — has  bound  Him  in  His  majesty  or 
in  His  law, — not  permitting  Him  to  touch  His  creatures 
save  through  the  agency  of  force  and  nature !  But 
how  sublimely  has  practical  experience  disproved 
both  superstition  and  philosophy,  and  demonstrated 
the  truth  of  Bible  teaching,  that  like  as  a  father 
pitieth  his  children,  so  the  Lord  pitieth  them  that 
fear  Him,  and  that  He  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us ! 
This  representation  does  not  degrade  the  Almighty. 
Far  from  it.  It  humanizes  God  indeed.  But  then  it 
is  the  very  summit-truth  of  revelation,  that  God  has 
become  man  ;  and  the  possibility  of  such  direct  spir- 
itual fellowship  was  forever  established  when  the  Son 
of  God  appeared  on  earth  and  mingled  with  the  life 
of  man,  and  when  He,  departing,  said,  "  A  little 
while  and  the  world  seeth  Me  no  more;  but  ye  see 
Me :  because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also."  But  how  it 
exalts  man  ! 

We    say,    then,    that    Enoch    gave    us    the    model 
which  all  truly  spiritual  minds  have  sought  to  follow, 


ENOCH 


223 


and  just  in  proportion  as  this  personal  fellowship  is  felt 
will  faith  be  mighty.  A  few  years  since,  in  France,  a 
woman  who  had  found  Christ  through  the  work  of  the 
McAll  Mission,  gathered  some  friends  in  her  room  to 
read  the  Scriptures,  and  when  she  had  finished  she 
led  them  in  prayer.  When  she  rose,  one  exclaimed 
in  astonishment,  "  Do  you  talk  in  that  way  to  God  ?" 
Never  had  the  poor  soul  dared  to  speak  freely  to 
his  Maker.  Never  before  had  he  thought  it  possible 
to  find  the  Almighty  for  himself  and  in  his  own  soul. 
Yet  this  is  the  personal  religion  of  the  Bible  ;  and  as 
the  force  which  holds  the  worlds  together  does  so 
by  acting  upon  each  little  atom  of  matter,  so  is  the 
infinite  God  revealed  in  His  union  with  single  spirits, 
that  every  one  may  exhibit  His  grace  and  receive  His 
friendship. 

Not  only  so ;  with  Enoch  this  fellowship  was  not, 
as  so  often  with  others,  an  occasional  thing,  but 
the  daily  habit  of  his  life.  He  walked  with  God,  as 
though  in  the  ordinary  duties  of  life  his  unseen 
friend  went  with  him ;  as  though  with  each  step 
of  his  pilgrimage  his  guide  accompanied  and  coun- 
selled him.  Many  men,  perhaps  all,  have  seasons  of 
special  devotion, — know  what  it  is  occasionally  to  com- 
mune with  God.  Perhaps  they  prepare  for  these  times, 
or  perhaps  they  come  like  flashes  of  joyful  revelation  to 
the  soul.  But  they  are  hallowed  moments,  to  which, 
when    gone,  they  look   back  with  gratitude,  and  for 


224  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

whose  return  they  long.  All  this  is  well, — is,  I  sup- 
pose, inevitable,  but  there  is  danger  here.  Men  are 
apt  to  limit  to  such  times  the  possibility  of  communion. 
They  identify  their  power  with  these  seasons.  The 
rest  of  life  becomes  almost  irreligious  by  contrast. 
Religion  becomes  a  thing  of  spasms,  a  periodic  matter, 
the  summer  heat  of  love  followed  by  the  wintry  blasts 
of  forgetfulness  and  worldliness.  They  may  be  in  the 
Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  then  think  it  proper  on 
week  days  to  be  altogether  in  the  flesh. 

There  is  an  old  legend,  which  Whittier  has  versified, 
intended  to  teach  the  peril  of  overvaluing  these  seasons 
of  special  illumination.  It  tells  of  a  saint,  praying  in 
his  cell,  to  whom  a  vision  of  the  Lord  appeared.  But 
while  the  disciple  gazed  in  rapture  on  the  blessed  face 
of  Christ,  he  heard  the  bell  of  the  monaster}',  calling 
him  to  go  forth,  as  was  his  custom,  to  feed  at  the 
gate  the  poor  and  hungry,  who  came  there  at  the 
hour  of  noon.  How  strong  the  temptation  to  stay  and 
enjoy  the  vision !  But  the  good  monk  obeyed  the 
call  of  duty,  left  his  place  of  privilege,  performed  his 
task,  and  then  returned  to  think  of  the  vision  he  had 
seen,  when  lo !  he  found  it  waiting  for  him.  "  Hadst 
thou  remained,"  said  the  Christ,  "I  must  have  gone; 
because  thou  didst  go,  I  have  remained." 

Very  truly  may  we  learn  from  this  that  the  life  of 
true  fellowship  with  God  is  not  to  be  found  in  mere 
contemplation,  but  in  the  daily  walks  of  life.     Yea,  the 


ENOCH  225 

vision  will  not  only  tarry  for  us,  it  will  go  with  us. 
Enoch  gave  us  the  true  idea.  It  is,  not  to  stand  or 
kneel  with  God  merely,  but  to  walk  with  Him.  We 
may  have  God's  presence  in  our  shops  and  offices  as 
well  as  in  the  church ;  as  we  walk  the  streets  we 
may  hear  the  noiseless  step  of  the  unseen  Guide ;  in 
the  doing  of  daily  work,  even  in  our  times  of  recre- 
ation, God  may  be  with  us  and  we  may  walk  with 
God.  I  do  not  mean  that  daily  life  is  to  be  an  ecstasy. 
We  need  not  be  always  conversing  with  our  Friend. 
We  are  to  do  our  work  and  take  our  play.  But  we 
are  always  to  feel  Him  near,  so  that  when  we  have 
aught  to  say,  we  may  say  it ;  when  we  need  aught,  we 
may  ask  for  it;  when  we  desire,  we  may  converse 
with  Him.  This  would  be  to  carry  heaven  in  our 
hearts.  Sin  would  not  then  easily  assail  us.  Our 
hidden  foes  would  fly  from  that  divine  form.  We 
should  realize  in  full  force  what  it  is  to  be  reconciled 
with  God, — how  deep,  how  real  a  meaning  Christ's 
promise  had.  In  short,  we  should  walk  with  Him, 
and  our  steps,  however  many,  would  be  always  tend- 
ing toward  the  place  where  God  will  give  us  rest. 

Such,  then,  was  the  exceptional  type  of  character 
manifested  by  this  ancient  man  of  God,  and  I  would 
like  to  point  out  to  you  the  light  which  other  passages 
of  Scripture  throw  upon  the  question  of  how  such  a 
life  may  be  attained. 

The  first  condition    of  thus  dwelling   with   God  is 

15 


226  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

humility.  This  is  brought  out  by  the  prophet  Micah 
when  he  says,  "  What  doth  the  Lord  require  of 
thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to 
walk  humbly  with  thy  God?"  or,  as  it  should  be 
rendered,  "  to  humble  thyself  to  walk  with  God." 
Think  of  it!  Humble  thyself  to  walk  with  God! 
How  strange !  He  might  deem  it  a  humbling  thing 
to  walk  with  us,  He  who  is  infinite,  almighty, 
supreme,  with  us  who  are  weak,  sinful,  rebellious. 
But  for  us  to  humble  ourselves  to  walk  with  Him !  Is 
not  such  fellowship  our  greatest  honor?  Are  we  not 
permitted  by  it  to  enter  into  a  communion  in  which 
angels  themselves  rejoice?  How  can  it  be  true  that 
humility  is  its  condition  ?  Alas,  experience  testifies 
that  this  is  only  too  sadly  true.  The  heart  of  man  has 
been  caught  by  the  false  show  of  earthly  splendor:  his 
tastes  perverted,  his  poor  soul  made  to  aspire  to 
imaginary  goods.  He  is  proud  too  of  his  strength 
and  independence,  so  that  in  his  judgment  it  is  a 
humbling  thing  to  walk  with  God ! 

Has  it  not  ever  been  so  ?  Did  not  Christ  say,  "  Ye 
shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake  "  ?  Did 
not  Paul  say,  "  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the 
world,  .  .  .  and  things  which  are  despised  "  ?  Do  we  not 
read  that  He  makes  His  abode  in  the  hearts  of  the  lowly 
and  the  contrite  ?  It  has,  indeed,  ever  been  found  so. 
You  cannot  reach  this  lofty  height  of  spiritual  fellow- 
ship,— this  life  when  you  may  enter  the  company  of 


ENOCH  227 

prophets  and  apostles, — save  by  renouncing  your  own 
works,  by  confessing  your  own  sins,  by  feeling,  in  fine, 
your  own  great  need  of  divine  help.  The  way  to  the 
kingdom  always  leads  through  a  strait  gate;  and  he 
who  knows  the  power  and  glory  of  his  religion,  he 
who  would  have  the  peace  which  the  world  can 
neither  give  nor  take  away,  is  he  who  seeks  God  not 
in  the  spirit  of  the  Pharisee,  but  in  that  of  the  publican, 
and  who  has  the  humble  heart  and  the  mind  that  is 
self-abased. 

Then  to  this  we  should  add  that  other  verse,  "  Can 
two  walk  together,  except  they  be  agreed  ?"  The 
prophet  Malachi  describes  the  holy  life  of  one  of  the 
patriarchs  in  these  words,  "  He  walked  with  me  in 
peace  and  equity."  It  is  impossible  to  maintain  the 
spiritual  life  of  which  we  are  speaking  if  the  heart  be 
set  on  those  things  with  which  God  can  have  no  sym- 
pathy. How  long  do  earthly  friendships  last  when 
you  become  interested  in  objects 'in  which  your  friend 
has  no  interest?  Gradually  you  drift  apart.  There 
may  be  no  open  rupture,  but  the  tide  of  sympathies 
sweeps  you  away.  Friendship  must  have  some  basis, 
some  connecting  link.  It  is  the  union  of  souls. 
Merely  to  live  next  to  a  man  does  not  make  him 
your  friend.  If  you  and  he  have  no  thoughts,  no  pur- 
suits, no  objects  in  common,  your  friendship  will  not 
last,  and  is  probably  not  worth  maintaining. 

This  may  illustrate  our  life  with  God.     No  man  can 


228  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

walk  with  God  if  his  heart  be  bent  upon  the  world. 
The  thoughts  of  God  find  no  response  within  his  mind 
if  the  plans  and  the  cause  of  God  are  of  less  value  to 
him  than  his  own  selfish  plans  and  pleasures.  It  is  vain 
for  that  man  to  sigh  after  a  spiritual  life.  It  is  vain  for 
him  to  perform  outward  acts  of  religion.  His  fellow- 
ship with  God  is  a  pretense.  Not  unless  you  and 
your  Redeemer  have  something  in  common  can  you 
walk  with  Him.  Not  unless  you  feel  in  sympathy 
with  His  mind  may  you  suppose  Him  to  be  in  sym- 
pathy with  yours.  In  short,  only  those  who  are 
willing  to  humble  themselves  and  become  as  little 
children  can  enter  into  the  society  of  Him  who  is 
meek  and  lowly,  holy  and  pure.  When  you  consider 
the  glory  of  such  a  life  as  Enoch's,  and  the  means  by 
which  it  may  be  attained,  do  you  not  see  what  Jesus 
meant  when  he  said,  "  Whosoever  exalteth  himself 
shall  be  abased;  and  he  that  humbleth  himself  shall 
be  exalted  "  ?  Happy  are  they  who  have  learned  the 
lesson  of  real  humility,  and  in  whose  minds  has  been 
kindled  enthusiasm  for  the  cause  of  God.  They  shall 
walk  in  the  light  of  His  countenance.  Alike  amid 
the  press  of  daily  duties  and  in  the  sweeter  hours  of 
worship  and  meditation,  they  shall  know  the  ineffable 
joy  and  peace  of  walking  with  God. 

Let  me  turn  your  thoughts  now  for  a  moment 
to  Enoch's  translation.  The  simple  record  in  Genesis 
is,  "  He  was  not ;  for  God  took  him."     This  of  itself 


ENOCH  229 

does  not  necessarily  mean  that  he  did  not  die.  We  are 
assured  of  its  real  meaning,  however,  by  the  writer  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  who  tells  us  that  "  By  faith 
Enoch  was  translated  that  he  should  not  see  death  ; 
and  was  not  found,  because  God  had  translated 
him :  for  before  his  translation  he  had  this  testimony, 
that  he  pleased  God."  Such,  too,  we  might  infer  from 
Genesis,  since  Enoch  is  the  only  one  in  its  list  of 
patriarchs  of  whom  it  is  not  distinctly  said  that  he 
died.  The  unusual  phrase,  "  God  took  him,"  points  to 
some  unusual  way  of  exit  from  the  world.  But  in  its 
simplicity  this  account  is  very  suggestive.  One  other 
man  in  the  Bible  is  said  to  have  been  translated,  but 
how  very  different  the  ends  of  Elijah  and  Enoch  !  The 
stern  prophet  of  Gilead, — who  had  been  as  a  fiery  blast 
to  his  country,  whose  prayers  had  scorched  the  fields 
for  three  years,  and  who  had  brought  down  fire  from 
heaven  on  the  priests  of  Baal, — naturally  passed  heaven- 
ward in  a  chariot  of  fire.  The  whole  character  of 
Elijah  was  so  rugged  and  fierce,  that  no  gentle  exit 
would  have  suited  his  story.  He  had  been  God's 
thunderbolt,  hurled  against  the  guilty  house  of  Ahab, 
and  so  in  a  whirlwind  he  ascended  to  God  who  had 
inspired  his  tongue.  But  of  Enoch  we  are  simply  told 
that  he  disappeared.  Apparently,  no  one  saw  his 
departure.  The  implication  of  the  language  of  Script- 
ure is  that  men  sought  for  him,  but  he  had  gone. 
God  quietly  took  him  to   Himself.     As  he  had  long 


23O  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

walked  with  God,  so  God,  by  some  unusual  way,  one 
day  called  him  home. 

Now  what  meant  the  translation  of  these  two 
prophets  ?  Why  did  God  in  their  cases  depart  from 
His  usual  ways  and  deem  the  common  portal  insuf- 
ficient ?  We  cannot  say  fully,  but  we  may  see  cer- 
tain consequences  which  followed  from  it,  and  which 
may  partly  explain  His  reasons.  Thus  in  the  case 
of  Elijah,  his  translation  was  the  means  of  showing 
evidently  the  continuance  of  his  work  in  that  of  Elisha. 
On  the  latter  prophet  Elijah's  mantle  fell.  The  two 
men  did  one  work.  They  can  be  understood  only 
when  viewed  together.  Elijah  destroyed,  that  Elisha 
might  construct;  Elijah  laid  the  foundation,  that  Elisha 
might  build  upon  it.  Elijah's  work  was  unfinished, 
and  hence  the  expectation  that  he  would  come  again 
before  the  Messiah.  His  translation  at  least  exhibited 
the  unity  between  him  and  his  successor.  Not  even 
death  divided  them.  The  same  is  still  more  strongly 
brought  out  by  the  ascension  of  Christ,  which  also  may 
be  called  a  translation  ;  for  Christ  ascended  that  we 
might  feel  Him  still  to  be  living  and  working;  feel  that 
the  Church  is  still  under  His  care ;  that,  as  Luke  says, 
on  earth  He  began  His  work  and  is  now  finishing  it  in 
heaven.  It  is  thus  that  we  look  also  at  the  disappear- 
ance of  Enoch.  Whether  for  the  sake  of  others  or  for 
his  own,  the  impression  made  is  that  the  patriarch's 
pure  and  godly  life  was  continued;  it  went  right  on;  it 


ENOCH  23I 

was  not  broken  even  by  death.  God  wishes  us  to 
perceive  that  one  who  lives  in  fellowship  with  Himself 
is  already  ripe  for  the  close  fellowship  of  heaven. 
There  is  no  break  in  the  journey.  Such  a  life  on 
this  and  that  side  of  the  grave  is  the  same.  On  that 
side  it  needs  only  to  be  perfected  and  confirmed.  But 
it  is  the  same  life, — life  with  God. 

Thus,  then,  the  translation  of  Enoch  reveals  to  us 
what  is  true  of  many,  who  are  not  translated.  God,  by 
this  exceptional  departure  of  this  exceptional  man, 
has  shown  us  distinctly  what  ought  to  be  true  of  all. 
Enoch  stands  forth  as  the  proof  that  a  truly  Christian 
life  destroys  death.  The  sting  of  death  is  sin,  but  for 
the  Christian,  sin  has  been  forgiven.  The  strength  of 
sin  is  the  law,  but  for  the  Christian,  the  law  has  been 
obeyed  and  satisfied.  Death,  therefore,  is  for  him  not 
what  it  once  was.  It  is  not  punishment.  It  is  but  the 
departure  to  God.  Of  multitudes  may  we  say  as  truly 
as  of  Enoch,  "They  were  not,  for  God  took  them," — 
since,  death  being  thus  transformed,  it  matters  not 
whether  it  come  or  not.  We  shall  not  all  die,  but,  like 
Enoch  and  Elijah,  we  shall  all  be  changed.  That  is 
the  meaning  of  death  to  the  Christian.  God  takes  His 
servant  to  Himself, — away  from  temptation,  and  perse- 
cution, and  trial, — to  perfect  rest,  perfect  bliss,  perfect 
purity.  It  was  not  the  absence  of  death  in  Enoch's 
case  which  is  the  principal  point,  so  much  as  the  con- 
quest of  death  by  faith  in  God. 


232  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

Have  you  never  seen  nor  heard  of  dying  men  of 
whom  all  that  is  here  said  of  the  patriarch  could 
be  truly  said  ?  Paul  died  at  the  block ;  but  he 
had  already  said  that  it  was  better  "  to  depart  and  be 
with  Christ."  "  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and 
the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand."  "  One  of  the 
Scottish  martyrs,  standing  on  a  ladder  from  which 
they  were  to  throw  him  off,  assured  the  weeping  spec- 
tators that  he  had  never  gone  up  to  his  pulpit  with 
so  little  fear  as  he  had  mounted  that  ladder  to  die.  To 
him  it  was  a  perch  from  which  his  spirit,  wearied  of 
a  world  full  of  sin  and  sorrows,  was  spreading  out  its 
joyful  wings  for  the  flight  to  heaven."  Nay,  speak 
not  of  apostles  and  martyrs.  The  same  triumph  has 
been  enjoyed  by  thousands  of  ransomed  souls.  Men, 
women,  and  children  have  passed  through  the  valley 
without  a  murmur,  or,  if  the  passage  were  hard  and 
painful,  still  with  the  light  of  heaven  gleaming  in  their 
dying  eyes,  and  the  soul  translated  while  the  body  fell 
to  dust.  How  is  this  ?  Because  in  this  life  they  had 
found  God ;  because  here  they  had  learned  somewhat 
of  how  to  walk  with  Him,  tremblingly,  lamely,  perhaps, 
but  still  humbly,  and  relying  not  on  their  own  merits, 
but  on  His  grace. 

They  have  been  translated,  I  say.  They  have  not 
seen  death,  as  death  really  is.  They  are  not,  for 
God  has  taken  them.  That  is  all.  We,  standing 
on    the   hither  verge  of  the    grave,    have    sought   to 


ENOCH  233 

heal  their  pains,  to  cheer  their  spirits,  to  revive  their 
strength,  and  it  may  be  that  when  we  can  no  longer 
find  them  we  are  bowed  with  grief,  the  bitter  tears  flow 
fast ;  we  wonder  where  they  are,  we  think,  and  guess, 
and  ponder,  while  the  heart  grows  heavier  with  its 
load.  But  to  them, — ah,  to  them, — what  is  death  ? 
The  struggling  life  has  found  full  expression  now. 
Faith  has  become  sight.  The  love  that  once  was  often 
interrupted,  flows  forth  impassioned  now.  They  are 
with  God.  Still,  they  walk  with  God.  Their  Christian 
life  has  reached  its  goal,  and  the  pain  of  the  exit  from 
earth  has  already  been  forgotten  in  the  joy  of  the 
entrance  into  heaven.  They  are  not — for  God  has 
taken  them !  What  more  can  we  say  ?  What  more 
can  we  want?  Be  our  deaths  how  and  when  they 
may,  is  it  not  enough  to  know  that  with  faith  in 
Christ  our  Saviour,  there  is  no  sting,  there  is  no 
darkness,  there  is  only  in  store  for  us  God's  "  Wel- 
come home  "  ? 


XIII 

THE  WISE  WOMAN  OF  TEKOAH 

"  For  we  must  needs  die,  and  are  as  water  spilt  on  the  ground,  which 
cannot  be  gathered  up  again;  neither  doth  God  respect  any  person  \or 
and  God  doth  not  cast  away  a  soul]  :  yet  [but]  doth  He  devise  means, 
that  His  banished  be  not  expelled  from  Him." — 2  Samuel  xiv.  14. 

These  words  were  spoken  by  a  woman  arrayed  in 
deep  mourning,  and  they  were  directed  to  King  David. 
The  speaker  is  called  a  wise  woman.  She  is  known 
now  as  the  wise  woman  of  Tekoah.  Whether  that 
means  that  she  professed  to  be  a  magician,  or  simply 
that  she  had  clever  wit,  is  hard  to  say.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  she  traded  on  her  reputation  for  wisdom  ; 
was  a  sort  of  fortune-teller,  perhaps ;  and  hence  had 
acquired  influence  in  the  neighborhood.  It  may  be, 
however,  that  she  was  simply  a  cunning  and  shrewd 
person,  and  so  naturally  fitted  for  the  task  through 
which  we  have  made  her  acquaintance.  She  was 
before  the  king  at  Joab's  bidding ;  and  though  on  her 
were  the  signs  of  mourning,  the  real  grief  was  in 
David's  own  heart. 

David's  favorite  son,  Absalom,  was  a  fugitive  for  the 
murder  of  his  brother ;  and  David  mourned  in  his 
palace  both  the  absence  of  his  heir  and  the  wretched 
circumstances   which   had    stained   the    record    of  his 

235 


236  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

family.  Passion  and  murder  had  produced  other 
passion  and  other  murder  in  the  royal  household ; 
and  the  young  man  Absalom,  the  king's  heir  and 
favorite,  the  idol  of  the  court  and  of  the  people,  had 
fled  to  a  foreign  city,  a  fratricide.  David,  meanwhile, 
was  beset  by  conflicting  feelings.  His  son  was  an 
outlaw ;  the  avengers  of  blood  ought  to  be  on  the 
track  of  the  murderer ;  it  might  do  great  harm  to 
the  established  order  for  Absalom  to  be  forgiven. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  these  considerations,  the  king  mourned 
for  Absalom.  He  longed  to  have  his  favorite  back 
again.  He  was  ready  in  his  heart  to  excuse  the  young 
man's  sin,  but  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  sternly  to  condemn 
that  sin.  So  he  was  unhappy,  as  well  he  might  be; 
and  it  was  known  to  all  the  court  how  the  monarch 
grieved  over  the  banishment  of  his  child. 

At  this  juncture  the  brave  but  unscrupulous  officer, 
Joab,  determined  to  persuade  the  king  to  gratify  his 
own  inclinations.  For  this  purpose  he  obtained  the 
service  of  the  wise  woman  from  Tekoah,  and  we  are 
shown  in  her  interview  with  David  the  way  in  which 
she  overcame  his  scruples  and  induced  him  to  allow 
Absalom  to  return.  She  was  well  called  a  wise  woman  : 
for  she  led  the  king,  before  he  was  aware,  to  commit 
himself  to  the  principle  on  which  she  wished  him  to 
act,  and  then  she  delicately  applied  the  principle  to  his 
own  case.  She  came  as  a  suppliant,  attired  as  a  widow, 
and  told  a  pitiable  tale  of  her  own  misery.     She  said 


THE    WISE    WOMAN  OF  TEK0A1I  237 

she  had  had  two  sons,  and  that  one  of  these,  in  a 
moment  of  anger,  had  slain  his  brother ;  and  now  the 
avengers  of  blood  were  on  the  murderer's  track,  and 
she  would  be  deprived  of  her  sole  remaining  child,  and 
her  husband's  name  and  family  would  be  blotted  out 
of  Israel  forever.  Let  the  king,  she  cried,  make  an  ex- 
ception in  her  case.  Let  the  angry  deed  be  forgotten, 
now  that  the  anger  was  past.  Let  not  her  life  be  made 
more  desolate  by  the  punishment  of  her  other,  though 
guilty,  son. 

The  king  must  have  been  startled  by  this  request  to 
do  for  another  what  he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  do  for 
himself.  Perhaps  he  was  glad  to  be  able  to  indulge 
his  mercy  where  no  charge  of  favoritism  could  be 
brought  against  him.  The  pathetic  plea  of  this  woman 
made  him  feel  also  that  there  are  times  when  mercy 
has  a  better  claim  than  justice;  and  in  another's  case 
he  could  see  this  more  clearly  than  in  his  own.  We 
can  always  judge  others  better  than  we  can  ourselves. 
Let  our  circumstances  be  stated  in  the  abstract,  or  in 
connection  with  some  other  name,  and  we  can  often 
more  fairly  estimate  them  than  when  we  try  to  do 
so  knowing  them  to  be  our  own.  David's  sense  of 
justice  made  him  sternly  put  aside  the  thought  of 
forgiving  Absalom  ;  but  he  readily  granted  to  this  sup- 
posed widow  the  boon  she  craved.  "  As  the  Lord 
liveth,"  he  said,  "  there  shall  not  one  hair  of  thy  son 
fall  to  the  earth," 


238  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

Now  "  the  wise  woman  "  proceeded  to  insinuate  her 
main  point  into  David's  mind.  We  can  see  that  she 
advanced  slowly,  feeling  her  way  as  she  went ;  and  with 
the  appearance,  at  least,  of  much  hesitation,  only 
suggesting  the  matter  to  the  king.  She  had  two 
arguments  to  bring  forward.  On  the  one  hand,  why 
will  not  the  king  do  as  much  for  his  own  banished  son 
as  for  hers  ?  Was  not  Absalom  the  heir  ?  Was  he 
not  the  favorite  of  the  people  as  well  as  of  the  king  ? 
Had  he  not  been  led  to  his  crime  by  great  provocation? 
If  mercy  seemed  right  to  David  in  the  case  of  her  poor 
child,  why  should  he  be  afraid  to  exercise  it  in  the  case 
of  his  own  noble  and  best-loved  son  ?  Then,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  wise  woman  clinched  her  argument 
by  pointing  David  to  the  still  better  example  of  divine 
mercy.  This,  said  she,  is  what  God  does.  He  knows 
that  we  all  have  in  this  life  our  only  chance  of  recovery 
and  salvation.  Behold,  we  are  all  hastening  to  the 
grave, — we  must  needs  die, — and  then  it  is  over  with 
us ;  we  shall  be  as  water  spilt  on  the  ground,  which 
cannot  be  gathered  up  again.  But  does  God  let  us 
thus  perish?  Does  He  steel  His  heart  against  His 
guilty  children  ?  Does  He  care  not  whether  we  are 
lost  to  Him  or  not  ?  By  no  means,  O  king.  God  has 
devised  means  whereby  His  banished  may  not  be  ex- 
pelled. He  has  pointed  out  a  way  of  pardon ;  mercy 
and  justice  have  been  reconciled,  and  the  law  has  not 
been  dishonored,  though  the  law-breakers  have  been 


THE    WISE    WOMAN  OF  TEKOAH  239 

received  back.  "  God  .  .  .  deviseth  means,  that  he 
that  is  banished  be  not  an  outcast  from  Him." 

It  is  nothing  to  us  whether  or  not  the  wise 
woman  of  Tekoah  was  right  in  persuading  David  to 
restore  Absalom.  The  incident  remains  no  less  an 
example  of  the  triumph  of  mercy  over  justice,  and  of 
love  over  law ;  and,  in  the  words  by  which  she  set 
forth  the  character  of  God  and  the  fleeting  chances  of 
life,  she  speaks  wisely  to  us  as  well  as  to  King  David. 
She  comes  as  a  shrewd  observer;  points  us,  in  very 
graphic  language,  to  a  very  true  view  of  ourselves  and 
of  God  ;  and  while  we  may  not  have  any  such  per- 
plexing problem  to  solve  as  David  had,  we  may  need 
to  have  our  common  thoughts  and  habits  brought 
into  fresh  contrast  with  the  ways  of  the  Most  High. 

There  are  two  thoughts  expressed  in  the  text. 
The  one  is,  that  this  life  is  man's  only  opportunity  of 
receiving  forgiveness :  the  other,  that  God  has  seized 
this  opportunity  and  has  devised  means  by  which  for- 
giveness may  be  secured. 

In  what  a  vigorous,  yet  pathetic,  way  did  this 
wise  woman  of  Tekoah  set  forth  the  "  now  or 
never  "  doctrine  of  life  !  "  We  must  needs  die,  and  are 
as  water  spilt  on  the  ground,  which  cannot  be  gath- 
ered up  again."  Some  think  she  meant  to  say  that 
Amnon,  whom  Absalom  slew,  is  now  dead,  and  so  he 
might  as  well  be  dismissed  from  thought.  He  had  to 
die,  anyhow ;  and  since  he  cannot  be  restored,  why 


240  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

should  we  cherish  resentment  against  the  still  living 
Absalom  ?  But  such  a  grim,  immoral  fatalism  would 
scarcely  have  weighed  much  with  King  David.  He 
was  not  the  man  to  admit  that  there  need  be  no  re- 
pentance for  the  past,  or  that  sin,  once  accomplished, 
need  not  be  punished.  It  is  evident,  on  the  contrary, 
that  the  wise  woman's  words  referred  solely  to  Absa- 
lom. She  meant  to  say  that  life  is  the  only  chance 
of  forgiveness.  Death  was  before  them  all ;  and  who 
could  say  how  soon  it  might  come  ?  And  when  it 
did  come,  then  all  hope  of  reconciliation  between 
father  and  child,  all  hope  of  Absalom's  repentance, 
all  hope  of  amendment,  would  be  gone  forever.  We 
are  as  water  spilt  on  the  ground,  which  cannot  be 
gathered  up.  Life  has  been  given  man  for  his  salva- 
tion ;  death  seals  his  glory  or  his  doom. 

Perhaps  it  may  appear  to  some  that  this  language 
goes  even  further,  and  implies  a  disbelief  in  any  immor- 
tality at  all.  Were  we  to  take  the  words  alone  and 
literally,  this  might  be  the  case.  The  materialist  would 
ask  no  more  satisfactory  illustration  of  what  death  is 
than  this  of  water  spilt  upon  the  ground.  Life,  he 
would  say,  is  but  the  bringing  into  organic  connection 
of  a  certain  number  of  particles  of  matter;  and  death 
is  the  parting  and  scattering  of  them.  Death,  he 
would  say,  literally  ends  all.  The  conscious  life,  like 
spilt  water,  cannot  be  regained.  But  we  have  no  right 
to  press  thus  the   literal   force  of  the  wise  woman's 


THE    WISE    WOMAN  OF  TEKOAH  24 1 

figure,  any  more  than  to  say  that  James  did  not  be- 
lieve in  immortality  when  he  likened  life  to  a  "vapor, 
that  appeareth  for  a  little  time  and  then  vanisheth 
away."  Her  language  is  to  be  understood  only  with 
reference  to  the  opportunities  and  moral  possibilities 
of  life   itself. 

The  thought  which  she  uttered  is  one  which  especi- 
ally abounds  in  the  Old  Testament, — that  this  life 
alone  belongs  to  man  to  win  his  way,  and  do  his 
work,  and  earn  his  reward.  It  is,  for  example,  the 
thought  of  Job  when  he  exclaimed :  "  The  eye  of 
him  that  hath  seen  me  shall  see  me  no  more.  .  .  . 
As  the  cloud  is  consumed  and  vanisheth  away :  so  he 
that  goeth  down  to  the  grave  shall  come  up  no 
more  "  ;  or  that  of  the  Psalmist  when  he  wrote  :  "  Wilt 
Thou  show  wonders  to  the  dead?  Shall  the  dead 
arise  and  praise  Thee  ?  Shall  Thy  wonders  be  known 
in  the  dark  ?  and  Thy  righteousness  in  the  land  of 
forgetfulness  ?  " ;  or  that  which  the  writer  of  Ecclesi- 
astes  still  more  vigorously  proclaimed  :  "  Whatsoever 
thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might ;  for 
there  is  no  work,  nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor 
wisdom,  in  the  grave,  whither  thou  goest."  In  short, 
life  is  man's  only  opportunity.  In  it  alone  can  we  help 
each  other;  in  it  alone  can  we  be  reconciled  to  each 
other.  In  it  alone,  likewise,  can  we  obtain  the  for- 
giveness of  God.  Surely  no  words,  if  this  view  of  them 
be  correct,  could  more  forcibly  express  the  idea  than 

16 


242  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

these  words  of  the  text :  "  We  .  .  .  are  as  water  spilt 
on  the  ground,  which  cannot  be  gathered  up  again." 

Beyond  doubt,  the  wise  woman  was  right  in 
saying  that  this  is  our  only  opportunity  to  bless,  to 
win,  to  save  our  fellow-men.  This  was  what  she 
wished  especially  to  impress  on  David's  mind.  He 
ought  not  to  regard  Absalom  as  already  dead.  Life 
is  given  for  purposes  of  love  and  benefaction,  not  to 
be  made,  by  stern  anger,  like  to  the  grave.  And  in 
this  respect  she  is  clearly  a  good  adviser  to  us  all. 
What  should  impel  us  more  to  every  kind  of  loving 
deed,  what  should  impel  us  more  to  every  effort  for 
men's  elevation  and  salvation,  than  the  thought  that 
soon  they  will  be  beyond  our  reach?  We.  at  least 
shall  have  lost  our  opportunity  to  help  them.  Their 
death  will  take  them  out  of  the  range  of  our  influence. 
While  they  live  we  may  help  them,  but  our  arms 
cannot  extend  beyond  the  grave. 

It  is  strange  how  often  we  forget  this.  One  would 
almost  think  that  a  vague  belief  in  purgatory  lies 
latent  in  our  minds,  so  often  do  we  neglect  men  while 
they  are  alive  and  wish  them  well  after  they  are  dead. 
Commonly,  this  is  due  to  either  pride  or  carelessness. 
In  fact,  just  as  to  the  Hebrews,  so  to  us  this  earth 
is  intensely  real  and  enjoyable.  We  want  to  make 
the  most  of  it  for  ourselves  while  it  lasts.  So  we  are 
immersed  in  our  own  welfare  and  pursuits ;  we  pass 
the  needs  of  others  by;  we  say  too  often,  in  effect, 


THE    WISE    WOMAN  OF  TEKOAII  243 

"  Wait  till  this  fair  scene  has  passed  and  we  have  had 
our  joy  and  profit  out  of  life,  and  then  hereafter, — if 
there  be  one, — we  will  take  up  religion  and  benevo- 
lence." But,  surely,  this  is  trusting  to  a  mere  hope. 
It  is  well  enough  to  have  kind  thoughts  of  the  dead, 
even  though  in  life  they  have  been  our  enemies ;  but 
what  does  it  profit  them  ?  The  saddest  of  all  thoughts 
is  that  of  lost  opportunities.  There  was  one  to  whom 
I  might  have  been  more  kind,  whose  heart  I  might 
have  brightened,  but,  alas !  now  he  is  dead.  There 
was  one  whom  I  might  have  turned  to  a  pure  and 
noble  career ;  another,  whose  forgiveness  I  longed 
to  ask;  another,  whom  I  ought  to  have  forgiven; 
another  still,  to  whom  I  might  have  carried  the  word 
of  eternal  life ;  but,  alas  !  now  they  are  all  dead.  I  at 
least  cannot  help  them  now.  Oh,  if  men  would  but 
think  of  this,  how  much  gentler  they  would  be  in  their 
judgments!  how  much  quicker  to  forgive!  and  with 
how  much  more  devotion  would  we  not  all  strive  to 
do  without  delay  our  share  in  the  work  of  the  world's 
salvation ! 

Can  we  carry  the  thought  of  the  text  farther,  and 
say  that  as  life  offers  the  only  opportunity  men  have 
to  receive  our  aid  and  forgiveness,  so  it  affords  the 
only  chance  they  have  of  receiving  the  forgiveness  of 
God  ?  If  so,  then  the  urgency  of  our  duty  is  re- 
doubled, and  life  is  filled  with  responsibility  otherwise 
unknown.    I  feel  sure  that  this  is  so.  When  we  remem- 


244  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

ber  the  passages  of  Scripture  already  cited,  in  which 
the  hopelessness  of  the  grave  is  set  in  such  marked 
contrast  to  the  possibilities  of  life,  we  are  prepared 
to  hear  the  clearer  words  of  the  New  Testament, 
"  Now  is  the  accepted  time ;  now  is  the  day  of 
salvation."  To  this  we  add,  "  It  is  appointed  unto 
men  once  to  die;  but  after  this  the  judgment."  To 
that  again  we  add  the  frequent  descriptions  of  the 
judgment  as  based  upon  the  deeds  done  "in  the 
body."  Even  those  who  have  not  known  Christ  are 
represented  by  Him  as  accepted  or  rejected  according 
as  they  have  or  have  not  acted  well  "  unto  one  of 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren."  There  is  nowhere 
any  hint  that  the  judgment  will  go  upon  any  other 
basis  than  the  present  life  of  man.  Christ  sent  His 
disciples  into  the  world,  proclaiming  forgiveness  to 
every  one  that  believes,  and  condemnation  to  all  that 
refuse ;  and  it  would  seem  to  follow  that  here  is  the 
place,  and  now  is  the  time,  in  which  mercy  may  be  had. 
You  will  refer  me,  perhaps,  to  those  two  much  dis- 
cussed texts  in  the  First  Epistle  of  Peter,  which  are 
thought  by  many  to  prove  the  contrary  doctrine. 
The  one  reads,  "  For  this  cause  was  the  Gospel 
preached  even  to  the  dead,  that  they  might  be  judged 
according  to  men  in  the  flesh,  but  live  according 
to  God  in  the  spirit."  The  other  relates  that  Christ 
in  the  Spirit  preached  to  spirits  in  prison,  that 
is,  as  the  Apostle  immediately  explains,  to  the  men 


THE    WISE    WOMAN  OE  TEKOAH  245 

of  old  who  were  destroyed  in  the  deluge.  It  is 
admitted,  of  course,  that  these  passages  are  diffi- 
cult to  interpret.  I  can  only  express  my  honest 
opinion,  reached  in  spite  of  much  prejudice  in  favor 
of  the  other  view.  This  is,  that  they  do  not  teach  the 
theory  now  so  often  drawn  from  them.  When  Peter 
said  that  "  the  Gospel  was  preached  to  the  dead,"  he 
meant,  I  think,  the  dead  saints  and  martyrs  to  whom 
the  Gospel  had  come  in  their  lifetime,  but  whom  it 
had  not  saved  from  the  pains  of  persecution  and  suf- 
fering. Some  of  his  readers  feared  that  these  men 
had  lost  their  reward ;  that  they  would  not  share  in 
the  coming  kingdom.  This  was  a  common  fear  in 
those  days.  Paul  exhorted  the  Thessalonians  not  to 
sorrow  over  their  dead  as  those  without  hope,  for  the 
dead  in  Christ  should  at  His  coming  rise  first.  So 
Peter  assured  his  readers  that  the  dead,  though  they 
had  fallen  under  the  fiery  judgment  of  men,  would 
live  according  to  God  in  the  spirit.  As  for  the  other 
passage,  there  is  much  to  show  that  Peter  meant 
simply  that  Christ  by  His  Spirit  had  preached  through 
Noah  to  the  antediluvians ;  just  as  he  says  in  another 
place  that  the  Spirit  of  Christ  testified  in  the  prophets. 
It  remains  certain,  at  least,  that  in  the  only  two  texts 
which  can  be  quoted  in  favor  of  a  probation  after 
death,  as  much  may  be  said  against  that  interpretation 
as  for  it.  It  remains  certain,  moreover,  that  a  dozen 
or  score  of  other  passages,  about  the  meaning  of  which 


246  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

there  can  be  little  doubt,  bear  directly  against  that 
theory.  Finally,  it  is  certain  that  these  two  texts, — 
even  if  they  taught  that  Christ  preached  to  the  dead, — 
would  teach  that  He  did  so  between  His  death  and 
His  resurrection ;  and  leave  it  still  undetermined 
whether  such  preaching  has  ever  been  or  is  ever  to  be 
repeated.  The  Scriptural  ground  for  expecting  an 
opportunity  for  repentance  after  death,  therefore,  rests 
upon  a  doubtful  inference  from  a  doubtful  interpreta- 
tion of  two  difficult  passages  of  the  Bible.  I  submit 
that  this  cannot  begin  to  outweigh  the  earnest  appeal 
made  throughout  the  Scriptures  for  repentance  now 
in   order  to  forgiveness. 

We  have  little  zeal  indeed  for  the  mere  matter  of 
fact.  If  it  should  turn  out  that  any  who  have  not  re- 
ceived forgiveness  here  receive  it  in  the  other  world, 
we  should  thank  God  a  thousand  times.  But  to  trust 
to  such  an  unlikely  possibility  is  to  drop  over  a  preci- 
pice, upheld  only  by  a  single  doubtful  cord.  It  is  to 
throw  away  certainty  for  the  least  possibility.  Un- 
doubtedly the  great  volume  of  Scripture  teaching  flows 
the  other  way.  Our  text  is  its  fair  representative. 
Death  ends  the  day  of  forgiveness.  We  arc  as  water 
spilt  on  the  ground,  which  cannot  be  gathered  up  again. 
Life  is  man's  great  and  only  chance.  We  can  but 
repeat,  over  and  over  again,  in  the  ear  of  careless 
men :  Now  is  the  accepted  time.  Ah,  heed  this 
wise  woman  of  Tekoah.     Stop  hoping  in  vague  and 


THE    WISE    WOMAN  OF   TEKOAII  2\J 

unprofitable  theories,  and  seize  the  certain  duty  which 
the  present  moment  brings.  Make  life  your  op- 
portunity. Do  all  your  duty  to  your  fellow-men 
now,  ere  death  takes  them  from  your  reach  !  Take 
God's  forgiveness  now,  while  the  golden  chance  is 
yours  ! 

This  leads  us  to  the  other  truth  expressed  in  the 
text.  This  is,  that  God  has  seized  this  opportunity  of 
man's  earthly  life,  and  has  devised  means  whereby  man 
may  be  forgiven.  The  second  half  of  the  text  should 
be  translated :  "  God  does  not  cast  away  a  soul,  but 
thinks  thoughts  in  order  that  His  outcast  one  may  not 
be  expelled  from  Him."  The  speaker  clinched  her 
appeal  to  David  by  reminding  him  of  the  mercy  of 
God ;  and  there  was  such  a  likeness  between  David's 
relation  to  Absalom  and  God's  relation  to  David  him- 
self, that  her  appeal  must  have  had  much  force.  For 
God  has  His  rebellious  and  disobedient  sons.  David 
himself  had  sorely  needed  the  divine  mercy.  God's 
favorite  child,  so  to  speak, — the  man  after  his  heart, — 
had  been  guilty  of  the  same  crime  as  Absalom  ;  and 
the  king,  grieving  in  loneliness  over  the  sin  of  his 
favorite  child,  must  have  realized,  as  he  never  did 
before,  how  God  felt  toward  him  who  was  no  less  a 
sinner. 

The  likeness  went  further  still.  As  the  king  felt 
that,  however  much  he  might  wish  to  do  so,  he 
could  not,  for  the  sake   of  his  kingdom  and  his  own 


248  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

authority,  pardon  the  royal  criminal;  so  likewise  did  he 
know  that  the  law  of  God,  just  as  sternly  and  more 
unchangeably,  banished  every  sinner  from  the  divine 
presence.  Thus  we  are  brought  to  face  again  the  great 
problem  of  all  time, — how  shall  the  Father's  love  grant 
forgiveness  to  the  son  consistently  with  the  Father's 
own  authority  ?  How  shall  the  divine  law,  the  law  of 
the  universal  kingdom,  be  upheld  while  grace  finds  its 
way  to  the  guilty  ?  You  see  the  same  problem  pre- 
sented itself  to  David  which  is  ever  presenting  itself 
to  God,  just  as  in  David  were  united  the  two  rela- 
tions of  father  and  king,  which  are  united  in  God  also, 
who  is  both  our  Father  and  our  King.  But  what 
has  God  done  in  the  circumstances  ?  Has  He  thrown 
His  government  to  the  winds  in  order  that  His  love 
may  have  its  will  ?  Or  has  He  stifled  His  affection  in 
order  that  His  government  maybe  respected?  No, 
He  has  done  neither.  The  wise  woman  put  the  truth 
in  just  the  right  way.  He  has  "devised  means" 
whereby  both  ends  may  be  secured,  and  His  banished 
not  be  expelled  from  Him  forever. 

There  are  some  persons  to  whom  the  idea  of  a 
plan  or  scheme  of  salvation  is  repugnant.  They  think 
it  a  crude,  human  way  of  stating  the  truth.  It  seems 
to  them  impossible  that  God  should  seem  to  be  com- 
pelled to  resort  to  any  device  in  order  to  save  men. 
Why  cannot  He  both  grant  pardon  and  uphold  His 
authority  without  any  such  scheme?     Is  He,  they  ask, 


THE    WISE    WOMAN  OF   TEKOAJI  249 

a  man,  that  He  should  be  forced  apparently  to  circum- 
vent his  own  law  in  order  to  do  His  will  ? 

In  reply  it  may  be  said  that  we  cannot  safely  criti- 
cise facts,  and  that  it  is  far  more  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  the  fact  has  a  sufficient  reason  than  to  deny 
the  fact  because  we  cannot  understand  that  reason. 
The  wise  woman  of  Tekoah  used  this  language  be- 
cause she  and  the  king  had  all  around  them  examples 
of  such  devices.  What  else  was  that  altar  which 
smoked  before  the  tabernacle  on  Mount  Zion ;  what 
else  meant  the  law  respecting  leprosy  and  the  cleans- 
ing which  they  had  received  from  Moses ;  what  else 
were  those  cities  of  refuge,  where  the  blood-avengers 
could  not  enter,  than  devices  illustrative  of  the  govern- 
ment of  God  ?  These  old  Hebrews  knew  enough  from 
their  own  religious  system,  which  was  itself  an  im- 
mense scheme,  to  make  them  realize  that  though 
they,  like  the  rest  of  the  world,  were  under  the  ban  of 
God  by  nature,  He  had  devised  means  by  which  they 
and  others  also  might  return  to  Him. 

In  like  manner  must  we  look  upon  the  facts  and  the 
teachings  of  the  New  Testament.  The  mission  and 
the  death  of  Jesus  are  there  called  a  mystery  which 
was  hid  in  God  from  the  beginning.  We  are  told  that 
"  in  the  fullness  of  time  God  sent  forth  His  Son,  .  .  . 
to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law."  What  was 
that  if  not  a  scheme,  long  delayed,  but  at  the  right 
moment  put  into  execution  ?     We  are  told  that  "  He 


250  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

hath  made  Him  to  be  sin  for  us  who  knew  no  sin; 
that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in 
Him."  What  was  that  but  a  plan,  involving  the  sub- 
stitution of  one  for  another?  Finally,  we  read  that 
God  sent  forth  Christ  in  order  "that  He  might  be  just, 
and  the  justifier  of  him  which  believeth  in  Jesus." 
Here  is  certainly  a  device  not  to  circumvent  law,  but 
to  honor  it,  while  at  the  same  time  forgiveness  is  pro- 
vided for  men. 

Indeed,  on  any  view  of  Jesus  which  at  all  admits 
Him  to  have  been  a  divine  messenger,  we  must  sup- 
pose a  plan  or  scheme  in  the  mind  of  Him  who 
sent  Him ;  a  plan,  for  example,  that  the  world 
should  wait  so  many  years  before  Christ  came ;  a 
plan  that  His  coming  should  be  prepared  for  among 
the  Jews ;  a  plan  that  by  His  death  He  should  at 
least  teach  men  the  way  of  holiness.  We  go  only 
a  step  further  and  say  it  was  also  a  plan  by  which 
justice  could  be  satisfied  and  atonement  made.  It  is 
just  like  what  God  is  ever  doing  in  man's  history. 
He  does  not  bring  about  His  ends  at  once,  but  slowly 
and  painfully:  by  devices;  by  the  use  of  means;  by 
the  slow  unfolding  and  victory  of  His  eternal  purpose. 
God  has  a  plan,  or  else  the  world  would  not  be  gov- 
erned. He  has  a  law,  or  else  the  world's  order  would 
not  be  upheld.  So  in  the  gift  of  Christ,  of  course, 
He  had  a  plan,  and  has  devised  means  whereby  this 
race,  banished  by  its  sin,  may  be  forgiven. 


THE    WISE    WOMAN  OF  TEKOAH  25 1 

And  what  a  device  it  is  !  We  learn  it  at  the 
cross.  That  sufferer  was  the  Son  of  God.  He  laid 
His  life  down  as  a  ransom;  and  from  His  death 
there  come  to  us  two  words, — righteousness  and 
love.  The  righteousness  of  God, — upheld,  satisfied, 
— provided  now  for  us  all ;  the  love  of  God,  utter- 
ing from  above  that  bleeding  form,  Come,  for  all 
things  are  now  ready.  Go  out,  then,  to  the  Absaloms, 
— the  guilty  fugitives  from  heaven, — and  tell  them  the 
good  news  that  they  need  not  be  exiles  any  more ! 
To  that  Absalom,  who  has  stained  his  soul  with  vice 
and  crime,  carry  the  offer  of  forgiveness.  He  is 
feeding  swine,  it  may  be ;  but  tell  him  he  may  come 
home.  He  is  worse  than  a  publican,  perhaps  ;  but  let 
Him  confess,  and  he  may  be  justified.  Carry  the 
message  to  the  sinful  everywhere, — to  the  degraded 
and  the  desperate,  as  well  as  to  the  polished  crimi- 
nal, or  the  man  whose  heart  is  hard  with  avarice. 
Go  whisper  it  in  the  ears  of  the  timid  and  the  doubt- 
ing ;  let  it  ring  in  the  market-place ;  proclaim  it  from 
the  house-top ;  tell  it  to  your  friends,  and  take  it  for 
your  own  hope.  Absalom  is  not  lost.  Absalom  need 
not  be  an  exile.  Absalom  can  come  home  now, 
while  his  life  is  strong,  ere  the  water  is  spilt  upon  the 
ground ;  for  God  has  devised  means  whereby  he  may 
justly  be  forgiven  ! 

Are  there  no  Absaloms  here  ?  Are  there  none  who 
feel  themselves  sinners, — banished   from  their  Father 


252  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

and  King?  Are  there  none  who  want  to  return  home 
and  seek  their  Father's  face  ?  I  bring  you  His  mes- 
sage,— Come.  He  has  not  given  His  Son  to  die  with- 
out meaning  what  He  says.  He  is  in  earnest,  and  you 
may  take  your  place  among  His  children.  You  may 
make  life  what  it  ought  to  be, — the  road  to  heaven. 
Repent,  and  you  shall  be  forgiven.  Ask,  and  you  shall 
receive.  Knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you. 
No  one  need  be  lost ;  for  now,  while  the  opportunity 
is  here,  God  has  devised  the  means  of  your  salvation. 
"  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as 
white  as  snow." 


XIV 

JOHN   THE   BAPTIST 

"  I    am  the  voice  of  one  crying   in  the  wilderness,    Make    straight 
the  way  of  the  Lord,  as  said  the  prophet  Esaias." — John  i.   23. 
"  He  must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease." — John  iii.  30. 

Both  these  expressions  fell  from  the  lips  of  John 
the  Baptist :  the  first,  when  "  the  Jews  sent  priests  and 
Levites  from  Jerusalem  to  ask  him,  Who  art  thou  ?  "  ; 
the  second,  when  certain  of  the  Jews,  led  perhaps  by 
his  own  disciples  who  were  jealous  of  his  honor,  re- 
ported to  him  the  growing  popularity  of  Jesus  and 
the  prospect  that  he  might  be  outshone  by  the 
new  light  whose  rising  he  himself  had  announced. 
His  words  on  both  occasions  give  evidence  of  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  traits  of  character  which  any  man 
can  have.  They  show  the  entire  absence  in  John  of 
what  in  a  popular  way  we  may  call  self-conscious- 
ness ;  he  lost  himself  in  his  work  and  in  his  Master. 
They  show,  as,  indeed,  his  whole  history  does,  that 
he  thought  not  of  his  own  reputation  or  fate,  cared 
nothing  for  applause  and  was  indifferent  to  danger ; 
that  he  forgot  himself,  or  else,  with  consummate  grace, 
put  himself  entirely  in  the  background    in    even    his 

own  thoughts,  in  order  that  nothing  but  the   divine 

253 


254  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

message    and  the    divine    Messenger    might    be    con- 
sidered. 

It  is  rather  remarkable  that  this  grace  should 
appear  so  conspicuously  in  John  the  Baptist.  He 
was  a  somewhat  fierce  reformer.  His  appearance  was 
peculiar,  and  his  personality  attracted  universal  atten- 
tion. He  stood  also  single  handed  in  the  battle 
with  traditional  sin  and  established  error.  His  posi- 
tion required  great  energy  and  courage,  undoubting 
faith  in  his  own  call  from  God,  iron-like  power  of 
endurance.  Such  a  position  is  apt  to  make  some 
men  egotistical  even  when  sincere.  They  readily 
become  self-asserting.  The  very  solitude  of  their  po- 
sition tends  to  make  them  self-conscious.  But  John 
was  so  great  a  man  as  to  be  above  this  tempta- 
tion. He  realized  clearly  that  he  was  but  an  instru- 
ment in  God's  hand  to  do  a  special  and  temporary 
work.  Into  that  work  he  threw  himself  with  the  zeal 
of  a  devotee.  Therefore,  he  lost  all  thought  of  him- 
self in  thought  of  his  work  and  office.  Who  he  might 
be  was  a  matter  of  absolutely  no  consequence  to  friend 
or  foe.  He  was  the  voice  of  God.  That  was  enough. 
That  was  all.  And  when  his  mission  began  to  close, 
with  sincere,  indeed  almost  unconscious  humility,  he 
gloried  in  his  lessening  fame.  Had  he  not  spoken  in 
order  to  introduce  the  Messiah  ?  Should  he  then 
regret  that  the  Messiah  caused  him  to  be  forgotten  ? 
He  was  but  the  Bridegroom's  friend,  who  stands  and 


JOHN   THE   BATTIST  255 

hears  Him,  and  rejoices  greatly  because  of  the  Bride- 
groom's voice.  Intense  as  was  his  nature,  strong  as 
was  his  courage,  impressive  as  was  his  personality, 
John  the  Baptist  appears  most  admirable  and  was 
most  successful  because  of  the  complete  self-forget- 
fulness  with  which  he  did  his  glorious  task. 

Such  an  example  is  fitted  to  teach  us  an  important 
lesson.  We  are  naturally  prone  to  an  exaggerated 
self-consciousness,  even  when  we  have  the  least 
reason  for  it;  and  sometimes  our  very  efforts  to  do 
what  we  consider  right  unhappily  increase  this  natural 
tendency.  We  are  apt  to  spend  our  moral  energy, 
for  instance,  in  trying  to  force  good  feelings  and 
strong  religious  emotions,  instead  of  allowing  these 
to  regulate  themselves ;  and,  in  consequence,  we  be- 
come painfully  and  morbidly  absorbed  in  self-inspec- 
tion. Or  we  seek  to  solve  the  mystery  of  life  and 
to  overcome  incessantly  suggested  doubt  until  exist- 
ence becomes  little  more  than  an  intellectual  riddle, 
with  the  difficulty  of  which  we  are  oppressed,  and  by 
the  incubus  of  which  our  practical  usefulness  is  palsied. 
Or,  again,  we  may  waste  time  in  analyzing  our  Christian 
experience  in  order  to  learn  surely  whether  we  are  be- 
lievers, and  whether  we  are  growing  in  grace ;  and  by 
so  doing  are  either  cast  into  despair  or  exalted  by 
pride.  Of  course,  self-examination  is  not  to  be 
neglected,  but  it  may  be  abused.  A  thoroughly 
healthy  life  is  largely  unconscious  of  its  processes.     It 


256  FAITH  AND    LIFE 

is  the  sick  man  who  realizes  that  he  has  a  body.  The 
perfectly  well  man  gives  it  little  thought.  So  in  the 
moral  and  religious  sphere,  the  best  work  is  done  in 
self-forgetfulness.  The  best  progress  in  grace  is  made 
by  those  who  are  so  absorbed  in  doing  the  duties  com- 
manded them  that  they  think  little  about  the  effect 
upon  themselves.  The  finest  life  is  that  which  forgets 
its  own  needs  in  the  joys  of  service;  and  while  no  man 
should  fail  at  times  to  search  his  own  heart,  every 
man  will  be  and  do  better  by  being  absorbed  in  what 
is  greater  than  himself  than  by  being  busied  with  the 
diagnosis  of  the  state  of  his  own  soul. 

Now  I  wish,  at  this  time,  to  take  the  example  of 
John  the  Baptist,  as  given  us  by  these  two  expressions 
from  his  lips,  and  to  show  you  how  by  beginning 
aright  he  grew  unconsciously  into  the  finest  type  of 
Christian  manhood.  He  will  suggest,  I  think,  the 
line   along  which  we  all  ought  to  advance. 

Observe  first  that  John  began  by  forgetting  him- 
self in  the  work  he  had  been  sent  to  do  and  the  cause 
whose  champion  he  was.  This  was  the  spirit  in  which 
he  began  his  ministry.  For  thirty  years  he  had  waited 
for  the  hour  to  come  in  which  he  was  to  lift  his  voice 
as  a  trumpet  in  Israel.  He  had  lived  as  a  Nazarite 
from  his  birth.  He  had  dwelt  in  the  desert.  What 
thoughts  had  filled  his  mind  we  do  not  know.  But  we 
may  suppose  that  thoughts  of  the  speedy  coming  of 
the  Messiah,  the  worldliness  of  the  church,  the  degra- 


JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  257 

dation  of  the  nation,  burned  within  his  soul.  He  went 
forth  at  last  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elias,  inspired 
for  this  very  work,  breaking  on  the  guilty  nation  as 
the  Tishbite  of  old  on  Ahab's  court,  the  voice  of  one 
crying  in  the  wilderness,  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of 
the  Lord."  Out  of  what  considerations  did  this  ab- 
sorption of  self  in  his  work  which  characterized  John 
spring? 

It  came  first  from  his  knowledge  that  he  was  im- 
mediately called  of  God  to  the  work.  Had  he  taken  it 
up  of  his  own  accord,  his  self-forgetfulness  could  not 
have  been  so  complete.  He  would  have  felt  it  neces- 
sary to  justify  his  course.  But  working  as  he  did  in 
obedience  to  a  divine  call,  he  felt  that  he  was  simply 
an  instrument  in  the  Lord's  hand.  What  was  he,  to 
rebuke  the  learning  of  the  scribes,  and  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  Pharisees  ?  Who  was  he,  to  antagonize 
the  existing  order  and  to  assume  the  authority  of  a 
prophet?  What  good  could  he  expect  single  handed 
to  accomplish  ?  But  believing  that  he  spoke  a 
word  which  God  had  put  into  his  mouth,  he  could 
utter  it  though  none  heard  or  though  all  heard.  It 
would  win  its  way  because  it  was  God's  word.  He 
would  do  his  work  because  God  was  using  him.  It 
was,  I  apprehend,  this  knowledge  that  he  was  called 
by  God  to  speak  and  act  as  he  did,  which,  first  of  all, 
made    John    lose    thought    of  self  in    the    herculean 

task  to  which  he  was  assigned. 
17 


258  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

Moreover,  he  realized  that  the  work  was  infinitely 
more  important  than  he  was.  He  was  but  one  of  a 
multitude,  and  God  might  have  chosen  any  other  man 
to  do  the  work.  It  was  of  little  consequence  what  his 
fate  might  be  or  what  his  opinions  were.  But  the  work 
for  which  he  was  sent  was  momentous,  both  to  Israel 
and  to  all  mankind.  The  hour  of  the  world's  great 
crisis  had  come.  The  axe  was  to  be  laid  at  the  root  of 
the  trees.  He  for  Whom  Israel  had  sighed  and  prayed 
through  many  centuries  was  about  to  appear,  and  Israel 
was  not  ready  to  receive  Him.  The  Lamb  of  God, 
who  was  to  take  away  the  sin  of  the  world,  was  on 
His  way  to  the  place  of  sacrifice.  As  the  man  who 
struck  the  bell  of  American  liberty  is  forgotten  and 
was  nothing,  but  the  sound  went  forth  into  all  the 
land,  so  he  who  struck  the  hour  of  redemption  was 
nothing,  but  the  announcement  itself  was  all.  Such  a 
work  was  of  incalculable  importance  to  Israel  and  to 
humanity.  Men  must  be  made  to  hear.  They  must 
be  brought  to  their  knees  in  repentance.  Who  he 
was  that  roused  them  mattered  nothing.  What  they 
might  do  to  him  was  of  no  consequence.  But  the 
work  of  awakening  must  be  done,  be  the  cost  what 
it  might. 

Still,  again,  John  realized  that  the  time  was  short. 
Already  the  Messiah  had  been  born.  The  time  was  ripe 
for  His  manifestation.  The  failure  of  Israel  was  sealed. 
The  cry  of  the  faithful  few  was  despairing.     Outside, 


JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  259 

the  world  was  ready.  The  tyrant  was  in  power,  pre- 
pared to  slay.  The  world  was  learning  from  Israel  as 
it  had  never  learned  before,  and  was  come  to  share 
widely  in  Israel's  hope.  There  was  no  time  to  be 
lost,  no  time  to  argue,  no  time  to  polish  discourses, 
no  time  to  think  of  danger,  no  time  to  think  of  self. 
For,  to  crown  all,  John  knew  his  own  mission  to  be 
but  a  brief  one.  He  was  only  to  prepare  for  the  Mes- 
siah. He  was  simply  to  open  the  gate  for  the  King  of 
Israel  to  enter.  He  was  nothing  but  a  herald.  His 
work,  therefore,  could  not  last  long.  It  would  soon  be 
over  and  be  merged  into  the  greater  work  of  the 
Greater  Master. 

It  was  out  of  such  considerations  as  these  no  doubt 
that  John's  self-forgetfulness  sprang.  The  crisis  was 
imminent,  and  he  became  unconscious  even  of  the 
exertion  he  made  in  meeting  it.  In  the  realization 
of  such  a  situation,  the  mind  is  lifted  up  above 
its  common  tenor.  When  rescuing  a  fellow-man 
from  danger,  we  forget  our  own.  When  the  fight 
closes  thick  around  him,  the  soldier  is  unmindful 
of  the  awful  peril  in  which  he  stands.  Luther 
was  more  self-conscious  than  John  the  Baptist  was, 
because,  heroic  though  he  was  and  manifestly  raised 
up  by  Providence  for  his  special  work,  he  was  yet  not 
the  simple  instrument  in  God's  hand  which  the  son  of 
Zacharias  was.  Yet  Luther  rose  to  something  of 
the  same  self-forgetfulness  when  he  declared  that  he 


26o  FAITH  AXD    LIFE 

would  go  to  the  Diet  of  Worms  though  there  were 
as  many  devils  aiming  at  him  as  there  were  tiles 
on  the  roofs.  John  was  less  boastful  and  no  less 
brave.  He  had  no  Elector  behind  him  and  no  friends 
with  him.  He  absolutely  obliterated  himself  in  the 
work  which  he  was  sent  to  do.  He  sought  no  glory 
and  no  comforts.  He  heeded  neither  the  frown  of  the 
priests  nor  the  wrath  of  the  king.  He  simply  and 
without  hesitation  did  his  given  duty,  and  spoke  the 
word  which  God  had  put  into  his  mouth — anxious 
that  men  should  listen  to  it  rather  than  look  at  him — 
glad  to  be  known  as  nothing  but  a  voice — a  voice 
from  God,  crying  in  the  wilderness :  "  Behold,  the 
King  cometh ;  prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord." 

Now,  in  a  way,  the  same  motives  which  operated  in 
John's  mind  can  govern  us,  even  though  we  are  not 
specially  raised  up  by  God  as  he  was.  Every  man  has 
a  divine  mission  in  the  world.  It  may  be  very  hum- 
ble, but  it  is  a  real  mission.  It  may  be  quite  out  of 
the  line  of  what  we  commonly  call  religious  work,  and 
yet  be  in  the  deepest  sense  a  divine  mission.  Life  is 
given  us,  at  any  rate,  that  we  may  serve  God  in  it ;  and 
whatsoever  our  circumstances  or  our  condition,  we  may 
serve  Him  if  we  have  the  will.  He  who  has  a  willing 
heart  and  an  open  eye  will  discover  the  possibilities 
of  service  when  others  see  them  not.  He  will  rec- 
ognize in  the  needs  of  his  fellow  men  a  divine  call. 
He  will  feel  that  he  is  part  of  a  great   organism   in 


JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  26 1 

which  the  Almighty  is  working  out  His  will  and 
plan,  and  that  whatsoever  makes  truth  clearer,  or 
society  purer,  or  human  suffering  less,  or  ignorance 
rarer,  or  holiness  more  dominant,  is  an  agent  for  the 
fulfilment  of  that  divine  will.  He  will  put  at  the 
forefront  of  all  agencies  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  will  think  life  used  for  the  noblest  end  when  con- 
tributing to  the  spread  in  the  world  and  in  society  of 
that  blessed  truth. 

Thus  every  one  may  catch  the  enthusiasm  of  appli- 
cation. Eveiy  one  may  feel  in  a  measure  the  pressure 
of  the  same  motives  by  which  we  have  supposed  that 
John  was  governed.  Each  man  may  feel  himself  called 
of  God  to  be  of  use.  Each  ought  to  feel  that  the 
work  is  of  infinitely  more  importance  than  he  is ;  that 
the  time  is  short  in  which  to  do  it ;  and  that  at  the 
best  it  will  not  be  a  long  work,  since  our  stay  in  the 
vineyard  is  but  for  a  little  while.  So,  grasping  the 
situation,  a  true  man  ought,  like  John,  to  forget  him- 
self in  these  divine  activities.  We  have  no  right  to 
consider  our  own  pleasure  or  even  mainly  our  own 
spiritual  profit.  It  matters  little  what  becomes  of  us  : 
but  humanity  must  be  comforted  and  redeemed,  truth 
and  God  must  be  glorified.  We  are  not  to  spend 
our  whole  time  in  purifying  our  hearts,  or  in  mourn- 
ing over  our  sorrows,  or  in  cultivating  our  intellects. 
We  are  to  go  out  of  ourselves  and  give  our  time  to 
purifying  others'  lives,  to    comforting  others  in    their 


262  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

sorrow,  and  to  driving  away  ignorance  from  others' 
minds.  Our  vision  should  be  directed  outward,  not 
inward.  We  should  not  deem  ourselves  to  be  of  the 
chief  worth..  That  which  should  enlist  us  is  the 
active  service  to  which  Providence  obviously  calls 
us.  The  consequence  will  be  that  through  this  self- 
forgetfulness  our  lives  will  become  most  useful  and 
happy.  Our  sorrows  will  be  best  assuaged  by 
sympathy  with  those  of  other  men.  Our  knowledge 
will  grow  wider  as  we  seek  to  give  it  to  the  ignorant, 
whereas  he  who  lives  for  himself  in  any  sense  will 
become  the  poorer  and  more  wretched  for  his  pains. 
Surely,  this  is  a  needed  lesson.  Forget  thyself  in 
service  for  thy  Master,  if  thou  wouldst  tread  the 
noblest  path  in  life. 

But,  important  as  it  is,  this  is  not  enough,  by  any 
means,  for  the  full  ripening  and  perfecting  of  Christian 
character.  There  may  be  absorption  in  benevolent  and 
useful  work  without  any  sense  of  personal  relationship 
to  Christ.  If  so,  the  necessary  condition  of  real 
Christian  growth  is  wanting.  It  is  interesting,  there- 
fore, to  notice  the  path  by  which,  apparently,  John  the 
Baptist  reached  ripeness  of  character.  The  second 
passage,  which  I  have  chosen  as  part  of  the  text,  indi- 
cates what  that  path  was. 

The  inevitable  time  came  when  his  mission  drew  to 
a  close.  The  Messiah,  for  whose  advent  he  had  been 
sent  to  prepare,  came  upon  the  scene  and  gradually 


JOHN   THE   BAPTIST  263 

occupied  a  larger  space  than  His  herald  in  the 
thoughts  of  the  people.  The  crowd  which  had  at- 
tended on  the  ministry  of  the  Baptist  began  to  thin, 
while  a  greater  multitude  listened  to  the  teaching  of 
Jesus.  Manifestly,  John's  day  was  nearly  over.  He 
would  soon  have  to  stand  aside  altogether,  and  in  the 
gloom  of  a  prison  watch  the  better  ministry  of  the 
Nazarene. 

It  was  a  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  John's  devo- 
tion to  his  God-given  work  that  he  so  gracefully 
recognized  the  rightfulness  of  his  own  diminishing 
popularity.  "He  must  increase;  but  I  must  decrease." 
John  served  so  well  that  he  was  ready  to  pass  into 
obscurity  when  his  work  was  done.  Not  every  man 
possesses  such  humility;  and  we  cannot  but  consider  it 
to  have  been  the  crowning  beauty  of  this  prophet's 
character  that  he  not  only  forgot  himself  in  his  work, 
but  also  in  its  issue.  He  was  ready  both  to  subordinate 
himself  to  service  and  to  serve  so  faithfully  as  to  be 
willing  to  have  his  service  itself  forgotten  in  the  suc- 
cess of  Him  whom  he  had  come  to  serve. 

But  in  this  John  did  more  than  exhibit  humility  and 
loyalty.  He  exhibits  the  precise  path  along  which 
Christian  progress  lies.  I  think  we  may  fairly  see  a 
real  growth  in  John's  spiritual  life.  Beginning  by 
consecration  to  the  divine  will,  he  finds  that  will  to  be 
submission  to  Jesus.  Gradually  Christ  supplants  in  his 
mind  even  his  God-given  work.      The  person  of  Jesus 


264  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

becomes  the  main  object  of  his  attention, — the  sun  in 
the  heavens  before  which  all  the  stars  hide  themselves. 
John  learns  now  to  subordinate  himself  to  Christ  as  he 
had  formerly  subordinated  himself  to  his  work.  He 
finds  that  he  must  trust  Christ  absolutely,  for  even  he, 
prophet  though  he  was,  did  not  understand  what  Jesus 
was  going  to  do.  He  finds  that  he  must  love  Christ 
supremely,  for  in  Him  the  final  revelation  of  God  was 
made.  He  must  cease  his  own  activity,  because  Christ 
must  and  can  do  all.  He  must  lay  aside  his  mission, 
for  that  of  the  Master  has  begun.  He  must  hold  in 
check  his  own  hopes  and  fears,  for  Christ  alone  knows 
how  redemption  to  Israel  is  to  be  brought  about.  All 
this  growth  in  spiritual  character  is  the  appointed  way 
for  the  prophet  of  the  law  to  ripen  into  the  Christian 
disciple ;  so  that  his  words  become  significant  not  only 
of  his  humility  and  loyalty,  but  of  the  positively  larger 
and  more  spiritual  view  of  duty  which  he  had  attained, 
when  he  said,  "  He  must  increase,  but  I  must  de- 
crease." 

For  Christian  character  ripens  in  just  this  way, — 
its  progress  toward  perfection  lies  just  along  this  line. 
It  begins  with  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour  and 
Master  of  our  souls.  But  that  is  only  the  beginning. 
It  grows  in  proportion  as  Christ  becomes  in  us  and  to 
us  more  and  more ;  and  we,  in  conscious  distinction 
from  Him,  become  less  and  less.  It  ripens  by  the 
fusion  of  our  motives  with  His  purposes,  our  affections 


JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  265 

with  His  spirit,  until  we  are  able  in  some  measure  to 
say  with  the  apostle,  It  is  not  we  that  live  but  Christ 
that  liveth  in  us.  For  we  must  have  faith  not  only  in 
Christianity  as  a  system  and  life,  but  in  Christ  as  a  per- 
sonal Redeemer. 

Thus  Christian  growth  consists  in  broadening  the 
scope  of  our  dependence  on  Christ,  forgetting  our  own 
merits.  As  I  have  said,  we  in  principle  depend  on 
Him  when  we  first  become  disciples.  But  the  experi- 
mental realization  of  what  is  involved  in  that  principle 
unfolds  as  we  go  on.  The  disciple  learns  that  in  order 
to  obtain  salvation  he  is  to  trust  absolutely  in  Jesus  ; 
that  no  works  which  he  can  do  can  merit  life :  so  that 
after  a  long  period  of  service  he  feels  the  nothingness 
of  his  own  labor  even  more  than  he  did  at  the  begin- 
ning. He  learns  also  that  he  must  trust  absolutely  to 
Christ's  wisdom  in  the  orderings  of  Providence.  He 
must  depend  upon  Christ  for  guidance ;  for  sanctifi- 
cation  no  less  than  for  justification;  for  happiness  no 
less  than  for  pardon ;  for  assurance  as  well  as  for 
cleansing.  Thus  trust  grows  in  him,  grows  not  only 
in  power  but  in  extent.  Self-confidence  diminishes 
because  confidence  in  Christ  increases.  Pride  dies  at 
the  feet  of  ripened  faith.  He  decreases  in  the  sense 
that  self-dependence  passes  utterly  and  wholly  away 
until  not  a  remnant  of  it  is  left :  whereas  Christ  increases 
in  the  sense  that  His  all-sufficiency  grows  like  the  dawn 
upon  the  soul.     At  last  the  disciple  is  able  to  fathom 


266  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

the  meaning  of  the  declaration  that  Christ  has  been 
made  unto  us  of  God  wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and 
sanctification,  and  redemption. 

Then,  too,  Christian  growth  consists  in  the  practical 
merging  of  the  human  will  in  the  will  of  Christ,  for- 
getting our  own  plans.  It  is  here  that  our  individuality 
most  plainly  appears.  It  is  the  human  will  which  is 
the  chief  rebel  against  God.  The  refusal  of  the  will 
to  bow  before  Him  is  the  root  of  sin.  This  is  the  self, 
the  personality,  which  must  be  brought  into  living  and 
practical  unison  with  God  or  else  be  God's  everlast- 
ing enemy.  So  the  disciple  learns  to  make  his  will 
more  and  more  the  expression  of  the  mind  of  Christ. 
This  is  not  to  be  done  by  force  work.  It  is  the  effect 
of  a  new  life.  He  learns  to  appreciate  the  divine  beauty 
of  Christ's  character ;  the  evident  wisdom  which  dwelt 
in  Jesus,  and  which  now,  as  he  believes,  rules  the 
world.  His  heart  is  won  by  the  love  of  Jesus,  so  that 
under  the  Spirit's  operation  his  affections  become  set 
on  things  above,  where  Christ  sitteth  at  the  right  hand 
of  God.  Therefore  his  will  ceases  to  be  in  oppo- 
sition. It  is  no  longer  independent  and  self-reliant. 
It  seeks  to  express  not  man's  poor  purposes  and  weak 
thoughts,  but  those  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Whatever,  therefore,  Christ  commands,  the  disciple 
becomes  willing  to  do;  whatever  Christ  ordains,  he 
becomes  willing  to  bear;  wherever  Christ  sends, 
he    becomes    willing  to  £o.     He   can  now  raise  with 


JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  267 

more  sincerity  the  prayer,  ''Thy  will  be  done." 
He  has  decreased ;  Christ  has  increased.  Christ, 
to  use  the  apostle's  phrase,  becomes  formed  within 
him.  A  child  will  sometimes  reproduce  almost  ex- 
actly the  mind  of  his  parent.  He  has  inherited  the 
latter's  mental  characteristics,  to  begin  with ;  and 
then  training  and  love  and  association  have  done  the 
rest.  When  he  becomes  older,  the  child  can  often 
see  his  parent  in  himself,  and  be  sensible  that  the  latter 
has  been  formed  within  him.  So,  but  more  faithfully, 
ought  the  disciple  to  reproduce  Christ.  This  will  not 
destroy  his  own  individuality,  but  perfect  it.  This  will 
not  weaken  his  energy,  but  direct  it  to  the  best  issues. 
Nevertheless  he  will  decrease,  and  Christ  will  increase 
in  him.  He  will  forget  his  own  separate  and  selfish 
existence  through  joyous  union  with  Him  who  is  his 
hope  of  glory. 

Thus  Christian  growth  consists  in  Christ's  becoming 
all  in  all  to  the  disciple's  consciousness.  In  Christ  the 
disciple  discovers  a  new  revelation  of  God  and  of  truth 
which  is  as  vastly  greater  than  his  first  view  of  the 
Saviour  as  the  heavens,  when  seen  through  a  telescope, 
are  greater  than  when  seen  with  the  naked  eye.  In 
Christ  he  discovers  also  a  sympathy  and  a  patience, 
which  appear  more  lovely  and  helpful  than  he  ever 
dreamed  such  things  could  be.  In  Christ  he  finds 
himself  complete, — and  as  his  own  thought  deepens, 
as  his  own  activities  expand,  as  his  own  needs  become 


268  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

more  manifest,  he  finds  that  thought  attains  its  best 
results  when  in  obedience  to  Christ,  that  activities  do 
most  good  when  guided  by  Christ,  and  that  the  deepest 
needs  are  amply  met  in  Christ.  He  has  received  the 
Spirit  of  wisdom  and  of  revelation  in  the  knowledge 
of  Christ :  the  eyes  of  his  understanding  being  en- 
lightened, so  that  he  knows  what  is  the  hope  of  his 
calling  and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  his  inherit- 
ance in  the  saints  ;  until  before  the  enthralled  contem- 
plation of  the  greatness  of  Christ  he  feels  that  his 
highest  joy  and  blessedness  consist  in  being  the  ser- 
vant of  such  a  Master  and  the  lowly  attendant  of  such 
a  Lord. 

Thus  self  reaches  perfection  best  through  self-abne- 
gation. The  believer  learns  to  look  wholly  away  from 
self  to  Christ.  Through  submission  to  the  Master 
his  own  life  grows  in  richness  and  power  and  peace. 
What  as  a  self-dependent,  independent  person  he 
had  failed  to  obtain,  he  does  obtain  through  depend- 
ence and  trust.  When  most  sensible  of  his  weakness, 
he  finds  in  Christ's  strength  that  which  secures  to  him 
the  results  that  he  desired,  but  could  not  win.  Christ 
must  increase,  and  the  disciple  must  decrease,  in  order 
that  the  disciple  himself  may  attain  his  own  ideal. 
Self-forgetfulness  is  thus  necessary  to  the  disciple's 
growth.  In  proportion  as  he  subordinates  his  own 
life  to  the  Saviour's,  will  his  life  unfold  its  divine  fruit- 
age.    The    way   of  self-development   in    the    spiritual 


JOHN   THE   BAPTIST  269 

life  is  by  self-abnegation.  The  starry  crown  is  won 
by  self-forgetfulness  due  to  absorbed  attention  to 
Christ.  He  who  loses  his  life  is  the  one  who  gains 
it.  The  less  we  depend  on  self,  the  less  we  con- 
sult self,  the  less  we  think  of  self,  and  the  more  we 
depend  on,  and  consult,  and  think  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  faster  will  we  grow  into  all  that  the  sons  of 
God  should  be.  He  must  increase,  and  we  must  de- 
crease. 

John  the  Baptist  exhibited  growth  in  grace  through 
self-forgetfulness  in  service  and  in  faith ;  his  self-for- 
getfulness  in  service  ripening  into  self-forgetfulness 
through  faith  in  Christ ;  the  latter  also,  in  substance, 
being  the  principal  mainspring  of  the  former.  I 
commend  this  truth  to  you,  Christian  people,  as  the 
secret  of  power  and  peace  in  your  Christian  living. 
Ourselves  are  our  worst  enemies.  We  give  them 
commonly  too  much  attention.  We  think  too  much 
of  their  comfort  and  pleasure,  and,  beyond  this,  we 
waste  too  much  time  in  foolish  efforts  to  make  our- 
selves better  and  happier.  Let  us  forget  ourselves. 
Let  us  look  without  us.  Let  us  see  the  work  of  God 
which  needs  to  be  done,  and  busy  ourselves  with  doing 
it,  wheresoever  it  may  lie,  at  home  or  abroad.  Let  us 
grasp  the  fullness  of  Christ  and  trust  Him  to  make  us 
better  and  to  make  us  happy  in  His  own  good  time 
and  way.  We  shall  have  hardly  escaped  from  the 
thraldom   of   self  before   we  shall  have  found   in  the 


270  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

larger  life  of  service  and  of  faith  the  beginning  of  the 
reward. 

I  commend  this  truth  with  no  less  earnestness 
to  the  people  of  the  world.  You  are  the  slaves 
of  selfishness.  I  do  not  mean  that  you  may  not  be 
in  a  degree  generous  and  kindly.  But  the  dominant 
principle  of  your  life, — what  is  it?  Is  it  not  self-in- 
terest ?  This  slavery  to  money,  and  to  fashion,  and  to 
pleasure — are  they  not  various  forms  of  self-worship? 
Trying  thus  to  save  your  lives,  you  lose  them.  You 
lose  all  greatness  from  them  ;  you  lose  the  satisfac- 
tion which  might  pervade  them ;  you  lose  the  glory 
which  ought  to  adorn  them.  And  if  perhaps  your 
consciences  have  been  quickened,  you  propose  to  win 
salvation  by  your  works,  little  thinking  how  insuf- 
ficient they  are  for  such  a  purpose.  Do  you  not  see,  to- 
day, your  serious  mistake  ?  You  must  accept  a  better 
master  than  your  own  poor  thoughts.  You  must 
confess  your  impotence  and  rely  upon  the  Saviour. 
You  must  uncrown  self  and  enthrone  the  Son  of  God. 
It  is  your  only  hope ;  for  if  you  are  self-good  and  self- 
serving,  you  will  be  self-destroyed.  He  who  forgets 
himself  in  life's  great  work  and  then  in  life's  Great 
Saviour,  has  himself  found  life  for  evermore. 


XV 

SIMON    PETER'S   BROTHER 
"  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother." — John  i.  40. 

There  are  many  very  useful  people  in  the  world 
who  are  not  appreciated,  because  they  are  overshad- 
owed by  some  one  especially  conspicuous.  They 
are  dwarfed  by  comparison  with  a  giant.  They  are 
forgotten  because  the  attention  of  men  is  fixed  on 
the  greater  one  near  them.  They  are  like  tall  trees 
and  huge  rocks  on  a  mountain's  side:  tall  and  huge 
though  they  be,  they  look  small  by  contrast  with 
the  great  peak  itself.  Such  people  may  be  really 
useful,  worthy  of  study  and  imitation ;  their  lives 
may  be  terrible  tragedies ;  the  pathos  of  their  exist- 
ences may  be  unutterable  ;  or  the  value  of  their  work 
may  be  actually  more  than  that  of  another  who  towers 
over  them  :  but  by  reason  of  the  latter's  nearness  they 
are  passed  by  without  notice.  We  are  often  quite  arbi- 
trary in  the  selection  of  our  models  and  heroes.  We 
confine  our  admiration  to  a  few  whom,  indeed,  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  imitate,  while  scores  of  others 
present  excellences  which  are  not  less  worthy  of 
praise,  and  which  may  be  more  nearly  within  our 
reach.     They  are  cast  into   the   shade,  however,   by 

271 


272  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

the  more  conspicuous  object  near   which  it    is  their 
fortune   to   be. 

We  may  apply  these  remarks  to  the  apostle  Andrew ; 
and  our  text  suggests  the  reason  for  his  moderate 
renown.  He  was  Simon  Peter's  brother.  He  was 
more  distinguished,  therefore,  by  his  connection  with 
Simon  than  by  what  he  was  or  did.  No  figure 
stands  out  more  prominently  in  the  annals  of  the 
early  Church  than  that  of  Peter.  How  often  his 
name  is  mentioned  in  the  Gospels!  How  much  we 
hear  of  him  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  book  of  Acts ! 
What  a  great  number  of  precious  practical  lessons 
has  he  been  the  means  of  our  learning!  What  a 
mighty  character  was  his, — that  Luther  of  the  apos- 
tolic age, — towering,  as  Luther  did,  above  all  but  a 
few  of  his  fellow  Christians !  But  the  very  fact  that 
to  distinguish  Andrew  more  clearly  it  was  easiest  to 
call  him  Simon  Peter's  brother,  has  tended  to  ob- 
scure the  merit  of  the  less  renowned  disciple.  He  is 
presented  to  us  in  the  Gospel  history  in  the  shadow 
of  his  brother's  giant  shape.  This  puts  him  at  a 
disadvantage.  Not  that  Christian  historians  have  been 
wrong  in  their  estimate  of  the  two — Peter  was  the 
greater ;  but  that  Christ,  by  choosing  Andrew  also 
to  the  apostleship,  recognized  his  worth,  where  his- 
tory has  scarcely  done  so.  He  is  a  fair  type,  we 
doubt  not,  of  multitudes  of  useful  people  whose 
worth    is    unrecognized    because  men    either    see   or 


SIMON  PETER' S  BR O TIIER  273 

are  looking  for  some  one  of  very  extraordinary  char- 
acteristics. 

Now  it  is  true  that  we  know  but  little  of  Simon 
Peter's  brother.  We  do  not  know  which  was  the 
older  of  the  two.  We  are  informed  that  their  home 
was  Bethsaida  of  Galilee,  which  seems  to  have  been 
a  town  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee  not  far  from  Capernaum. 
We  hear  of  Andrew  first  as  one  of  the  disciples  of 
John  the  Baptist,  and  as  one  of  those  who  heard 
the  great  preacher  say,  as  he  pointed  to  Jesus, 
"Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  ! "  That  testimony  to  Jesus 
as  the  Christ  was  enough  for  Andrew  and  his  fellow 
disciple  John.  They  followed  Jesus,  made  His  ac- 
quaintance, and  abode  with  Him  that  day.  Andrew 
thenceforth  ranked  himself  as  a  believer  in  Jesus  of 
Nazareth ;  and  on  the  very  day  of  his  own  accept- 
ance of  Jesus,  brought  his  brother  Simon  Peter  to  the 
Master. 

Thereafter  we  hear  of  this  apostle  on  only  four  occa- 
sions :  When  the  Galilean  ministry  of  Jesus  was  begin- 
ning, He  called  these  men,  whose  faith  He  had  already 
won,  to  be  His  constant  followers ;  and  He  marked  their 
call  by  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes,  which  symbol- 
ized so  well  the  task  to  which  He  was  calling  them 
and  the  power  by  which  He  would  give  them  success. 
We  are  told  that  Andrew,  as  well  as  Peter,  obeyed 
the  summons,  left  all,  and  followed  Jesus,  in  order  to 

be  a  "  fisher  of  men."     When,  again,  the  public  minis- 
is 


274  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

try  of  Jesus  was  about  half  finished,  He  performed  on 
the  cast  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  that  wonderful  act 
of  feeding,  from  a  few  loaves  and  fishes,  five  thousand 
men.  St.  John,  whose  clear  memory  often  appears  in 
such  particulars  as  this,  tells  us  that  when  the  disciples 
were  asked  by  Jesus  how  that  vast  multitude  could  be 
fed,  Andrew  replied,  with  a  vague  feeling,  I  suppose, 
that,  absurd  as  the  provision  seemed,  it  might  be  a 
help,  or  at  least  a  starting-point,  for  other  supplies: 
"There  is  a  lad  here  which  hath  five  barley  loaves,  and 
two  small  fishes;  but  what  are  they  among  so  many?" 
Again,  when  the  ministry  of  Jesus  was  nearing  its 
close,  certain  Greeks  wished  to  see  the  new  Messiah, 
and  applied  to  Philip.  Philip  consulted  Andrew,  and 
together  Andrew  and  Philip  told  Jesus.  And,  finally, 
when  Christ  gave  on  Mount  Olivet  to  a  few  disciples 
that  solemn  prediction  of  the  future, — of  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem,  and  the  troubles  and  persecutions  which 
were  impending,  and  of  the  end  of  the  world  itself, — 
we  read  not  only  that  Peter  and  John  and  James  were 
present, — those  three  whom  so  often  Jesus  took  into 
special  confidence, — but  also  that  Andrew  shared  on 
this  occasion  the  sad  privilege  of  listening  to  the 
terrible  prophecy. 

With  these  few  items  our  knowledge  of  the  apostle 
Andrew  ends.  It  is  noteworthy  that  St.  John,  with 
whom  Andrew  first  found  the  Saviour,  tells  us  the 
most  that  we  know  of  Simon  Peter's  brother.     It  is 


SIMON  PETER'S  BROTHER  2? $ 

noteworthy,  also,  that  Andrew  and  Philip  are  often 
mentioned  in  a  way  which  seems  to  indicate  that 
they  were  intimate  friends.  Perhaps  there  was  more 
congeniality  between  the  two  friends  than  between 
the  two  brothers.  Andrew,  cast  into  the  shade  by 
Peter,  naturally  strengthened  his  friendship  with 
Philip,  who  was  more  nearly  on  his  own  level.  Our 
knowledge  of  the  man,  however,  is  but  small.  We 
do  not  wonder  that  he  should  be  distinguished  from 
other  Andrews  by  being  called  Simon  Peter's  brother. 
It  is  true  that  he  was  more  renowned  for  his  brother 
than  for  himself.  Quite  sharp  is  the  contrast  between 
the  quick-tongued,  energetic,  commanding  Peter, 
whose  name  is  strewn  thickly  on  the  pages  of  the 
Gospels,  and  the  brother,  whose  name  occurs  so  sel- 
dom, and  then  apparently  in  the  most  incidental  way. 

But,  in  spite  of  all  this,  it  would  be  a  great  mistake 
to  slight  Andrew  and  to  think  that  he  was  of  no  value 
in  the  apostolic  circle.  Let  us  look  a  little  more  closely 
into  these  glimpses  of  his  life.  Let  us  try  to  estimate 
the  real  merit  of  the  man.  We  should  remember  that 
in  general  Andrew  was,  from  first  to  last,  faithful  to  the 
voice  of  God.  He  was  one  of  the  disciples  of  John 
the  Baptist,  and  that  means  that  he  was  a  loyal,  earnest 
son  of  Israel ;  a  man  of  spiritual  mind,  who  heard  in 
the  words  of  the  great  preacher  a  message  from 
Almighty  God.  Nor  did  he,  like  so  many,  follow 
John  the  Baptist  in   a  blind,  unintelligent  way.     He 


276  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

believed  him  to  be,  as  John  himself  said,  the  herald  of 
the  Messiah.  Few  of  the  people  understood  the 
mission  of  John;  but  Andrew  did,  and  he  proved  the 
fact  by  leaving  the  Baptist  and  joining  himself  to 
Jesus  when  the  prophet  pointed  the  latter  out  as  the 
promised  Christ.  From  that  day  forward  Andrew 
was  faithful  to  the  true  Light  which  had  arisen. 
Though  not  conspicuous,  he  was  devoted ;  though 
taking  no  prominent  place,  he  was  a  faithful  follower. 
If  no  great  confession  or  service  is  told  of  him,  so 
neither  is  any  great  failure  or  denial.  At  the  Lord's 
command  he,  too,  left  all  and  followed  Him.  When 
the  perils  of  the  way  increased,  Andrew  stood  his 
ground  firmly.  Because  nothing  noteworthy  is  related, 
we  should  not  forget  that  he  was  a  faithful  worker.  So 
far,  at  least,  he  was  a  type  of  the  true  disciple.  We 
should  bear  in  mind  that  of  necessity  there  must  be 
many  more  Andrews  than  Simon  Peters,  more  captains 
than  generals  in  the  army,  and  that  the  fidelity  of  the 
former  may  be  as  worthy  of  praise  as  the  brilliant  acts 
of  the  latter.  Andrew  became  a  type  of  the  multitude 
of  believers  who  are  not  called  to  conspicuous  posts, 
but  on  whose  loyalty  the  cause  of  Christ  depends,  and 
in  whose  ripening  Christian  characters  we  may  see  the 
grace  of  the  Divine  Spirit  quite  as  markedly  as  in  the 
shining  qualities  of  the  few  who  are  so  often  marked 
by  equally  evident  faults. 

I  see,  also,  indications  of  certain  distinctive  qualities 


SIMON  PETER'S   BROTHER  2JJ 

in  Andrew  which  more  particularly  merit  our  commen- 
dation. He  seems  to  have  had  an  active,  alert  mind, 
eagerly  watchful  of  the  course  of  events,  and  to  have 
felt  their  tremendous  importance.  He  seems  to  have 
been  a  wide-awake,  useful  man  of  work ;  if  not  as  ready 
as  Peter  to  speak  in  public,  quite  as  ready  to  speak  for 
Christ  in  private ;  always  glad  to  do  what  he  could  by 
personal  toil  to  advance  the  Master's  cause.  I  imagine 
him  a  man  of  quick  observation  and  of  an  inquiring 
mind,  as  well  as  of  true  spiritual  fervor.  You  may 
have  noticed  in  some  men  of  obscure  lives  nearly  all 
the  qualities  which  seem  necessary  for  public  position 
— clear  judgment,  deep  conviction,  fertility  of  resources, 
power  to  influence  others — while  yet  some  one  defect 
of  trifling  nature,  such  as  hesitation  to  act,  reticence  of 
speech,  or  the  like,  may  doom  them  always  to  be  lost 
in  the  crowd.  Perhaps  it  was  so  with  the  apostle 
Andrew.  At  any  rate,  he  was  the  means  of  his  greater 
brother's  conversion.  If  Peter  overshadowed  Andrew, 
Andrew  brought  Peter  to  Jesus.  No  sooner  had  he 
found  the  Christ  himself  than  he  told  the  discovery  to 
his  brother.  He  began  his  Christian  life  in  the  right 
way.  He  immediately  became  a  missionary;  and,  first 
of  all,  a  missionary  to  his  own  family,  which  most  men 
find  it  hard  to  be.  Many  would  rather  preach  to  the 
heathen  than  to  their  brothers.  Andrew  did  the  latter, 
and  thereby  showed  one  of  the  traits  of  his  character. 
Then   take   that   other    incident,    to   which    I    have 


278  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

already  alluded,  when  the  five  thousand  were  fed.  It 
was  Andrew  who  was  ready  with  a  practical  suggestion. 
He  had  been  on  the  outskirts  of  the  crowd.  While 
the  five  loaves  and  two  fishes  seemed  an  absurd  pro- 
vision for  that  great  multitude,  one  cannot  help  believing 
that  Andrew  was  convinced  that  Christ  could  make 
some  use  of  them.  He  seems  to  me  to  have  been  a  prac- 
tical worker — a  man  who,  if  he  could  not  make  an  ad- 
dress, could  be  on  the  alert  for  opportunities  of  helping, 
in  a  quiet  way,  the  Master's  object.  He  could  not  help 
exclaiming,  as  he  told  Christ  of  the  five  loaves  and  two 
small  fishes,  "  What  are  these  among  so  many  ?"  And 
yet  the  fact  that  he  thought  them  worth  mention  at 
all  indicates  that  he  had  a  strong  faith  in  the  unlimited 
power  of  Jesus.  Did  he  not  remember  that  draught 
of  fishes  in  the  Sea  of  Galilee  after  they  had  toiled 
all  night  and  taken  nothing?  Andrew,  with  his  prac- 
tical mind,  was  alive  to  the  worth  of  even  small  ma- 
terials when  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Then,  also,  shall  we  see  nothing  to  commend  in  the 
way  in  which  Andrew  and  Philip  tell  Jesus  of  the 
desire  of  the  Greeks  to  see  Him?  I  find  in  that 
incident  a  repetition  of  the  characteristic  which  Andrew 
had  showed  at  the  first.  He  is  the  man  who  quietly 
and  by  personal  efforts  brings  men  to  Jesus.  Some  of 
the  disciples  would  have  hesitated  to  introduce  for- 
eigners to  Christ.  They  would,  perhaps,  have  rejected 
the  notion  that  the  Messiah  was  sent  to  the  Gentiles, 


SIMON  PETER'S  BROTHER  279 

or  at  least  would  have  feared  the  possible  effect  on  the 
populace  of  throwing  Christ  into  association  with  out- 
siders. Philip  was  undecided  what  to  do  till  he  had 
consulted  Andrew.  But  the  latter  seems  to  have 
better  understood  his  Master.  He  felt  that  Jesus 
would  be  glad  to  help  and  save  any  ;  and  it  was  just  in 
the  line  of  his  habits  to  be  thus  the  medium  of  leading 
inquiring  minds  to  the  Saviour  of  them  all. 

I  think  then  that  Peter's  shadow  is  somewhat  re- 
moved from  his  brother.  Andrew  now  appears  a 
faithful,  useful  man,  doing  good  work  in  a  quiet  way, 
even  in  advance  of  Peter  in  practical  suggestions  and, 
perhaps,  in  the  understanding  of  Christ's  mission;  not 
fitted,  indeed,  to  fill  his  brother's  place,  not  the  man 
to  stand  up  at  Pentecost  and  preach  to  thousands, 
but  the  man  to  add  by  constant,  personal,  practical 
work  to  the  power  of  the  common  cause.  Every 
Simon  Peter  needs  an  Andrew,  every  preacher  needs 
the  practical  workers  to  unite  with  him,  just  as  every 
general  needs  subordinate  officers.  If  Andrew  be 
undervalued  because  of  his  brother's  brilliancy  and 
publicity,  he  will  not  be  when  we  remember  how 
little  the  latter  could  have  done,  humanly  speaking, 
without  the  aid  of  the  former.  Beyond  doubt  the 
Master's  choice  was  good.  Simon  Peter's  brother 
was  as  useful  in  his  way  and  as  truly  an  apostle  as 
Simon  Peter  himself.  We  admit  that  the  latter  was 
the  greater  man  of  the  two ;  but  we  contend  that   it 


280  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

would  be  quite  unfair  to  let  his  splendor  throw  too 
much  into  the  shadow  the  practical,  useful,  faithful  life 
of  Andrew,  his  brother. 

Now  there  are  two  or  three  lessons  which  I  wish 
to  draw  from  the  life  of  the  apostle  Andrew :  One  is 
the  folly  of  measuring  our  use  and  worth  by  com- 
parison with  the  other  people  who  are  about  us. 
There  is  no  more  frequent  cause  of  discontent  than 
this.  Nearly  every  one  finds  himself,  or  thinks  he  is, 
overshadowed  by  some  one  else.  Very  few  rise  to 
conspicuous  places.  Very  few  attract  the  special 
notice  of  the  world.  Many,  however,  fret  under  the 
situation.  They  do  not  like  to  be  relegated  to 
obscurity.  They  fancy  that  they  are  worth  nothing 
and  can  be  of  no  use,  because  they  are  not  worth  so 
much  or  are  not  so  useful  as  others  whom  they  know. 
Strangely,  too,  this  is  a  frequent  fault  with  good  people. 
They  have  a  real  desire  to  be  of  use  to  God  and 
men.  They  feel  that  life  is  a  service;  that  in  one 
sense  all  are  apostles,  sent  of  God  with  His  message 
of  love  and  salvation  to  the  world.  But  the  little  that 
it  is  possible  for  them  to  accomplish  in  the  world 
causes  discouragement.  Others  do  more  than  they, 
or  seem  to  be  doing  more;  and  they  fall  into  the 
unhappy  habit  of  "  measuring  themselves  by  them- 
selves, and  of  comparing  themselves  among  them- 
selves"— of  estimating  their  worth  by  comparison  with 
those  about  them.     So  they  deepen  their  discontent. 


SIMON  PETER'S  BROTHER  28 1 

Yet  surely  nothing  is  more  foolish  and  more  super- 
ficial than  this.  Such  an  estimate  is  nowhere  consid- 
ered worth  anything.  As  we  look  over  history,  and 
try  to  measure  the  worth  of  this  and  that  character, 
we  always  feel  that  so  long  as  we  confine  ourselves  to 
their  particular  circumstances  we  have  the  materials 
for  only  a  relative  and  not  an  absolute  estimate.  We 
see  some  overshadowed,  as  Andrew  was  and  as  we 
may  be,  by  the  presence  of  a  few  exceptional  persons. 
They  are  born  in  an  age  of  great  men.  They  are 
thrown  into  near  relation,  either  of  time  or  place, 
with  an  illustrious  man,  and  by  reason  of  that  fact 
they  do  not  receive  their  full  award  of  praise.  Others, 
on  the  contrary,  are  born  in  an  age  of  little  men  : 
and  though  they  themselves  be  small,  yet  an  inch 
or  two  of  height  above  that  of  their  fellows  would 
not  be  a  fair  reason  for  classing  them  with  the  great 
of  a  really  great  age.  In  that  splendid  burst  of  dra- 
matic poetry  which  marked  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  in 
England,  there  were  many  men  of  genius  whose 
reputation,  except  to  students  of  literature,  has  been 
overshadowed  by  their  nearness  to  Shakespeare. 
Some  one  has  said, — perhaps  not  with  accuracy, 
but  the  remark  illustrates  our  point, — that  "  it  was 
fortunate  for  Cromwell  that  he  appeared  upon  the 
stage  at  the  precise  moment  when  the  people  were 
tired  of  kings ;  and  unfortunate  for  his  son  Richard 
that    he    had    to    make   good    his    pretensions    at   a 


282  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

moment  when  the  people  were  equally  tired  of  pro- 
tectors." However  that  may  have  been,  other  names 
will  occur  to  us  of  men  who  became  famous  because 
they  lived  when  there  were  none  to  eclipse  their  fame  ; 
though  if  they  had  belonged  to  a  later  period  they 
would  soon  have  been  forgotten. 

We  may  see  others,  also,  who  are  overshadowed, 
not  by  persons,  but  by  circumstances.  Some  have 
hard  tasks,  and  because  they  do  not  succeed  perfectly 
they  may  be  undervalued.  Others  are  successful,  but 
deserve  little  praise  because  their  task  was  easy.  In 
none  of  these  cases  would  an  estimate  be  fair  which 
was  based  only  upon  comparison  with  contemporaries. 
The  just  critic  tries  to  make  allowance  for  these 
facts.  He  who  has  been  obscured  by  the  nearness  of 
a  stronger  light  may  reflect  that  otherwise  he  would 
shine  brightly  too,  like  the  stars  at  night.  And  some- 
times we  find  on  examination  that,  like  the  stars,  he 
may  be  really  greater  even  than  the  nearer  sun  which 
hides  his  light  from  the  eyes  of  men. 

We  must  not  make  this  mistake  in  our  own  cases. 
It  is  folly  to  compare  ourselves  thus  with  those  about 
us.  We  shall  be  sure  to  find  ourselves  excelled.  We 
shall  be  sure  to  find  ourselves  hidden  by  the  shadow 
of  a  larger  figure ;  and  if  once  we  begin  such  com- 
parison, we  shall  be  doomed  to  discontent.  The 
vigor  of  our  life  will  wane.  God  does  not  judge  us 
so.      He    knows    our    absolute    worth.      Christ    chose 


SIMON  PE TER  'S  BRO TIIER  283 

Andrew  no  less  than  Peter.  He  saw  his  worth,  He 
appreciated  his  character,  He  made  him  useful.  To 
Christ  the  Master,  therefore,  are  we  to  look,  going 
each  the  way  which  He  has  appointed,  never  say- 
ing, "Lord,  what  shall  this  man  do?"  but  "What 
wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do?" — content  through 
knowing  that  in  His  eyes  our  desire  to  serve  Him 
will  never  be  unseen  or  unrewarded.  What  if 
others  seem  to  excel  us?  It  is  not  for  us  to  make 
such  comparisons.  Christ  will  know  whether  we 
are    doing    our    work    well    or    not. 

Then,  also,  we  may  be  reminded  by  Simon  Peter's 
brother  of  the  great  positive  need  which  every  cause 
has  of  quiet,  inconspicuous,  but  faithful  workers.  Is  it 
not  suggestive  of  this  that  so  few  of  the  apostles 
should  have  left  their  mark  upon  the  history  of  the 
Church  or  on  the  record  in  the  New  Testament? 
Were  they  not  called  to  the  post  of  highest  honor 
possible  for  man  ?  Was  not  their  work  the  grandest 
that  men  have  ever  been  commissioned  to  perform  ? 
And  is  there  any  reason  to  think  that,  except  Judas 
Iscariot,  they  were  unfaithful  ?  Yet  how  little  do 
we  know  of  most  of  them !  Only  a  few  were 
meant  to  leave  behind  them  not  only  permanent 
but  visible  effects.  The  rest  scattered  and  toiled  on 
till  death  called  them  to  their  reward.  They 
started  missions  here  and  there ;  they  witnessed  for 
Christ    and    the    resurrection.     They   were    none    the 


284  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

less  necessary,  none  the  less  useful,  for  having  been 
forgotten.  Certainly,  it  is  true  in  secular  affairs  that 
the  inconspicuous  people  do  the  bulk  of  the  world's 
work.  A  few  may  lead ;  and  it  may  be  that  but 
for  them  the  mass  would  go  astray.  But  the  quiet 
workers  achieve  the  principal  results.  The  private 
soldiers  win  the  battle.  The  workmen  make  the 
goods.  The  miners  dig  out  the  ore.  And  the  prog- 
ress of  human  society  is  due  not  merely  to  the 
genius  of  the  few,  but  also  to  the  work  and  faithful- 
ness of  the  unknown  many. 

Thus  Andrew  becomes  an  encouragement  to  us, 
and  particularly  in  respect  to  that  moral  and  relig- 
ious toil  which  God  has  apportioned  to  every  one. 
He  suggests  the  power  of  personal  work  and  influ- 
ence exerted  in  quiet  ways.  We  recall  how  he 
brought  his  brother  Simon  Peter  to  Jesus,  saying, 
"  We  have  found  the  Messias " ;  and  then  how  he 
made  himself  the  willing  medium  through  which 
even  Gentiles  could  approach  the  Saviour  of  the 
world.  Now  there  is  an  amount  of  usefulness  pos- 
sible in  this  way  which  can  scarcely  be  overstated. 
Personal  influence  is  a  great  force,  more  irresistible 
than  eloquence  or  formal  authority ;  and  yet  it  is  a 
force  which  depends  only  on  character, — yea,  may 
sometimes  issue  unconsciously,  and  even  from  a  child. 
Men  may  yield  assent  to  argument  or  eloquence,  but 
a  word  from  one  whom  they  love  or  admire  will  do 


SIMON  PETER'S  BR  OTHER  28$ 

far  more  to  fix  their  faith.  You  do  not  need  to  be 
conspicuous  in  order  to  be  useful,  so  long  as  you  can 
reach  men  individually ;  can  throw  the  weight  of  your 
personal  life  and  character  for  God  and  His  Son :  so 
long  as  you  can  stand  in  your  place,  whatever  it  be, 
and  convince  men  that  you  are  a  Christian  :  so  long 
as  you  can  go  here  and  there  on  errands  of  love  and 
of  salvation,  telling  the  needy  of  the  riches  of  God's 
grace,  saying  to  one  and  another  of  your  fellow  men, 
"  We  have  found  the  Christ." 

Assuredly,  this  is  a  great  lesson.  What  Christianity 
needs,  in  order  to  her  speedier  success,  is  not  better 
arguments,  not  more  elaborate  churches,  not  elo- 
quence, not  genius,  not  more  Peters  and  Pauls  and 
Johns.  She  needs  all  of  her  humbler  disciples  to 
give  themselves,  in  their  humble  spheres,  to  the 
work,  as  far  as  in  them  lies,  of  saving  souls.  She 
needs  the  rank  and  file  of  her  legions  to  do  their 
individual  duty.  Men  easily  come  to  think  that  the 
ministry  and  the  formal  servants  of  the  Church  are 
the  only  agents  whom  Christ  has  chosen.  It  is  a 
great  mistake.  Every  one  of  us,  by  the  power  of 
quiet  personal  work,  may,  like  Andrew,  be  worthy 
of  a  place  among  apostles. 

Truly,  as  we  look  over  the  annals  of  human  progress 
under  the  Gospel,  we  are  forced  again  and  again  to 
confess  the  usefulness  of  thousands  of  whom  the  world 
has  heard  but  little.     You  could  probably  count  upon 


286  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

your  fingers  the  names  of  those  whom  you  call  the 
chief  defenders  of  Christ's  cause  in  our  age.  But  you 
forget.  Think  of  the  hundreds  who  are  quietly  teach- 
ing and  preaching  Christ  in  every  heathen  nation ; 
think  of  the  ten  thousands  who,  week  by  week, 
throughout  Christendom,  arc  telling  the  children  of 
the  Saviour.  Think  of  the  millions  who  are  giving 
their  prayers,  their  money,  and  their  influence  to  the 
cause  of  the  kingdom.  And  you  will  see  that  the  real 
power  which  is  winning  the  world  for  God  lies  in 
just  these  countless  quiet,  unknown  people,  who  are 
working  together,  though  to  each  other  unknown, 
for  the  name  of  the  one  Lord.  These  are  the 
Andrews  of  our  day — hidden,  perhaps,  as  the  apostle 
was,  by  the  brighter  blaze  of  a  few  or  of  one,  but 
from  Christ's  sight  not  hidden,  in  Christ's  view 
most  useful,  and  destined  not  to  fail  of  a  reward. 
Did  He  not  put  the  apostles  on  an  equality  ?  "  Ye 
shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel,"  said  He.  Andrew  then  shall  have 
his  true  position,  and  it  will  be  as  glorious,  as  honor- 
able as  Simon  Peter's  own. 

Our  lesson,  therefore,  is,  Do  not  be  discouraged 
by  the  greater  fame,  the  more  brilliant  success  of 
others.  Do  not  mind  if  you  are  overshadowed.  You 
will  not  mind,  if  you  are  living  not  for  this  world's 
applause,  but  for  the  praise  of  Christ  and  for  doing 
right.     Believe  me,  Christ  has  given  you  a  great  work, 


SIMON  PETER'S  BROTHER  287 

great  possibilities,  great  chances  of  being  useful.  You 
have  only  to  go  to  work,  day  by  day.  Remember 
your  calling.  Think  no  man  unworthy  of  your  effort. 
Be  on  the  alert  for  opportunities.  Do  your  own  work, 
help  and  save  your  own  friends,  make  your  own  influ- 
ence what  it  ought  to  be,  and  do  not  care  one  whit 
whether  men  are  looking  at  you  or  at  some  more 
shining  figure.  Thank  God  that  you  have  not  Peter's 
perils  and  temptations.  Thank  Him  for  what  you  are 
enabled  in  your  quieter  life  to  do,  and  do  it  with  your 
might;  for  no  man  need  be  useless,  and  no  man 
need  fail,  unless  he  choose  to,  of  gaining  from 
Christ   a   crown   and   a   throne. 


XVI 

A   NOBLE    LIFE 

"  For  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is 
at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have 
kept  the  faith." — 2  Timothy  iv.  6,  7. 

We  learn  some  of  our  best  lessons  from  the  death- 
hours  of  our  fellow-men.  The  voice  which  is  already 
almost  a  voice  from  the  grave  strikes  into  our  very- 
souls.  Or  even  if  the  dying  lips  give  no  utterance, 
our  minds  fancy  that  we  can  hear  what  they  would 
speak.  At  such  a  moment  we  are  forced  to  moralize. 
We  see  the  ways  of  life  converging ;  results  revealing 
the  value  of  principles  ;  hope  turning  into  retrospect. 
The  moral  naturally  comes  out  at  the  end  of  the  story; 
and  even  the  fastest  runners  in  the  common  race  are 
forced  to  pause  and  think  when  one  by  their  side 
falls  into  the  dust,  and  by  the  mere  fact  of  dying  be- 
comes a  teacher  of  the  living.  By  the  graves  of  the 
righteous  we  instinctively  cry  with  Balaam,  "  Let 
me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last 
end  be  like  his."  And  even  the  most  careless  feel, 
for  at  least  a  moment,  the  wrong  of  sin  and  the 
worth  of  godliness. 

Thus  the  great  apostle  gave  as  his   last  legacy  to 
19  289 


29O  FAITH  AND    LIFE 

Timothy  the  splendid  moral  of  his  own  life.  He  is  an 
old  man  writing  to  a  young  man.  He  feels  himself  virtu- 
ally dead.  "  Already,"  he  says,  "  I  am  being  offered." 
All  hope  of  further  work  was  ended.  His  martyr- 
dom was  certain.  He  was  lying  in  a  Roman  prison. 
No  doubt  he  was  already  actually  sentenced.  At 
any  rate,  he  had  given  up  all  expectation  of  release. 
He  felt  like  a  victim  laid  upon  the  altar,  and  seemed  to 
see  the  glittering  knife  uplifted  to  slay  him.  There- 
fore he  wrote  to  his  beloved  friend  and  spiritual  son 
with  perfect  freedom. 

There  is  no  coarse  egotism  in  this  frank  expression 
of  satisfaction  with  his  life.  He  was  prompted  to 
write  as  he  did,  no  doubt,  by  several  considerations. 
Timothy  was  his  intimate  companion,  and  he  could 
speak  to  him  as  a  father  to  a  son.  Timothy, 
moreover,  was  still  in  the  midst  of  the  battle, 
and  needed  the  encouragement  which  the  peace 
and  joy  of  his  dying  father  were  likely  to  impart. 
Then,  too,  Paul  felt  himself  to  be  a  representative 
man.  He  stood  for  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles.  He 
had  been  bitterly  assailed,  even  by  those  who  should 
have  been  his  friends.  He  had  suffered  for  his  faith 
the  loss  of  all  worldly  goods.  His  life  had,  indeed, 
been  a  battle  with  poverty,  with  persecution,  with 
falsehood  and  wrong,  as  well  as  with  indwelling  sin. 
He  naturally  spoke,  therefore,  in  his  dying  hour  in  the 
name  of  his  faith.     He  would  support  it  with  his  last 


A   NOBLE   IJFE  29 1 

breath.  He  would  testify  to  its  worth  at  that  moment 
when  all  things  are  tested.  He  would  certify  to  the 
absence  of  even  the  least  shadow  of  regret  as  he  re- 
viewed the  way  which  had  begun  with  the  renunciation 
of  early  ambitions,  which  had  been  thorny,  and  bloody, 
and  tortuous,  and  which  was  now  ending  in  a  violent 
death.  Hence,  I  suppose,  the  freedom  of  his  speech. 
Hence  this  full  expression  of  satisfaction  as  he  reviewed 
the  past.  He  was  not  moved  by  any  wish  to  be  canon- 
ized as  a  saint.  He  was  simply  full  of  gratitude  to  the 
gracious  Lord  who  had  saved  and  used  him.  He  gave 
his  dying  testimony  that  Timothy  and  all  men  might 
receive  a  fresh  impulse  to  follow,  as  he  had  done,  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Behold,  then,  Paul's  readiness  to  die.  The  strife 
was  over  with  him.  The  appointed  hour  had  come. 
He  looks  back  and  he  looks  forward,  and  if  in  the 
future  he  can  see,  like  a  star  in  the  night,  the  glittering 
crown  which  God  had  promised,  he  can  see,  too,  in 
the  past,  manifold  sources  of  satisfaction ;  and  as  he 
lies  on  the  altar,  he  can  feel  that  he  has  not  lived  and 
toiled   in  vain. 

I  ask  you  to  notice  his  three  sources  of  satisfaction 
as  he  reviewed  his  life.  We  may  glean  from  them 
how  our  lives  ought  to  be  viewed  by  us,  and  how  we 
may  live  so  as  to  die  with  the  shining  crown  in  sight. 

He  rejoiced,  then,  that  he  had  "fought  the  good 
fight."      There   was    no    doubt   that    he    had  been   a 


292  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

warrior  and  his  life  a  battle.  From  the  hour  of  his 
conversion  he  had  been  in  armor,  his  shield  scarcely 
ever  lowered,  and  his  sword  scarcely  ever  in  the  scab- 
bard. He  had  contended  with  the  tremendous  power 
of  old  tradition,  of  family  and  racial  prejudice,  so  that 
his  own  people  had  branded  him  with  the  name  of 
traitor  and  renegade.  He  had  contended  with  mis- 
fortune. In  spite  of  poverty  he  had  carried  on  his 
mission,  working  with  his  own  hands  for  self-support. 
In  spite  of  a  score  of  physical  evils, — shipwreck,  per- 
secution, bodily  sickness, — he  had  kept  to  his  chosen 
task.  He  had  contended,  likewise,  against  many  errors 
which  threatened  to  spoil  or  undo  the  work  of  his  life ; 
he  had  fought  the  haughty  power  of  philosophy,  the 
tyranny  of  mobs,  and  the  displeasure  of  princes.  He 
had  led  the  attack  of  a  new  religion  against  the 
strongly  intrenched  forces  of  ancient  superstitions ; 
had  assaulted  the  favorite  passions  of  the  human  heart; 
had  charged  against  the  old  gods  and  their  worship, 
and  had  given  them  their  death-blow.  Whatever  may 
be  our  valuation  of  Paul's  work,  no  doubt  he  was  a 
warrior  in  the  battlefield  of  mind  and  society.  He 
was  a  controversialist ;  he  was  a  missionary ;  he  was 
plainly  declared,  by  his  sufferings,  to  be,  in  the  view 
of  the  world,  the  active  enemy  of  its  pleasures.  Ac- 
cording to  his  own  graphic  description,  his  lot  had 
been  cast  "  in  labors  more  abundant,  in  strifes  above 
measure,    in    prisons    more    frequent,    in    deaths    oft." 


A   NOBLE  LIFE  293 

Wounded,  bruised,  captured,  condemned  to  die, — he 
could  at  least  say  with  truth  that  his  life  had  been  a 
battle. 

But  I  beg  you  to  notice  that  his  satisfaction  did 
not  arise  from  the  mere  excitement  and  pleasure  of 
the  war,  nor  from  the  consciousness  that  he  had  con- 
ducted himself  well.  There  are  some  who  love  fight- 
ing for  its  own  sake.  They  enjoy  a  controversy. 
Their  spirits  rise  with  danger.  They  are  happiest 
when  they  don  their  intellectual  armor  and  enter  the 
field.  And  some,  I  suppose,  even  congratulate  them- 
selves, when  life  is  ending,  that  they  have  contended 
so  well.  They  count  their  laurels.  They  relate  with 
pride  how  they  worsted  some  competitor  in  debate 
or  in  business  ;  how  they  shrewdly  circumvented  some 
fellow-man.  Thev  look  at  life  as  nothing  but  a  battle, 
and,  like  some  old  soldier,  live  over  in  their  age  the 
fierce  encounters  of  bygone  days.  It  is  hard,  however, 
to  have  much  admiration  for  such  a  spectacle.  That 
a  dying  man  should  not  be  a  man  of  peace  is  almost 
horrible.  Even  on  actual  fields  of  blood,  dying  ene- 
mies clasp  hands  and  enter  the  other  world  friends. 
I  would  not  like  to  imagine  the  apostle  flushing  in 
his  last  moments  with  the  remembrance  of  his  valor. 
It  was  not  this  which  made  him  glad.  Our  common 
translation  misinterprets  him.  He  did  not  say,  "I 
have  fought  a  good  fight,"  as  though  his  fighting 
qualities  were  the  source  of  his  satisfaction.     He  said, 


294  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

"  I  have  fought  the  good  fight."  He  rejoices  not  in 
his  own  bravery,  but  in  the  justice  of  his  cause.  He 
had  not  been  fighting  for  self,  or  money,  or  office. 
He  had  been  a  warrior  indeed, — but  for  truth  and 
righteousness.  He  had  been  contending  against  sin, — 
in  the  world  and  in  his  own  soul.  He  had  been  privi- 
leged to  range  himself  with  goodness  and  truth  in  their 
conflict  with  vice  and  error.  This  was  his  first  source 
of  satisfaction  as  he  reviewed  his  life.  Forced  to 
fight,  he  had  fought  on  the  right  side.  Covered  with 
wounds,  every  one  of  them  was  a  mark  of  his  loyalty 
to  God.  He  was  glad  that  he  had  fought  the  good 
fight;  that,  in  a  world  of  conflict,  he  had  by  divine 
grace  given  all  his  power  to  the  side  of  God,  and 
truth,  and  righteousness.  This  was  quite  another 
spirit  from  that  of  an  aged  warrior  telling  over  the 
battles  of  his  youth. 

Now,  it  is  almost  too  trite  to  say  that  life  must  be  a 
battle,  if  it  is  to  result  in  anything  worthy  of  remem- 
brance. Every  man  finds  it  so,  unless  he  is  content 
to  go  down  to  an  unhonored  grave.  It  is  a  struggle 
for  existence,  to  say  no  more.  Most  men  have  to  win 
their  daily  bread, — struggling  against  the  temptations 
to  indolence,  perhaps  against  misfortune,  certainly 
struggling  against  the  lawful  competition  of  others. 
It  is  in  such  a  struggle  that  ordinarily  industry,  per- 
severance, courage,  and  training  capture  the  spoils. 
But   then,   too,   life    is    a   struggle   the    more    fierce 


A    NOBLE  LIFE  295 

in  proportion  as  the  coveted  prize  is  nobler  than 
bread  and  raiment.  One  must  needs  fight  like  a 
Spartan  for  the  honors  of  the  world;  endure  the  hard- 
ship of  many  a  long  campaign  before  a  fortune  has 
been  gathered.  There  are  now  and  then  men  born 
to  crowns  and  millions,  but  they  are  simply  enjoying 
the  fruits  of  the  conflicts  which  their  fathers  waged. 
The  natural  drift  of  things  is  against  our  pleasure. 
The  body  is  always  wearing  out,  and  money  is  always 
taking  wings,  and  honors  are  always  being  forgotten, 
and  work  is  always  being  surpassed.  We  have  only  to 
stand  still  in  order  to  perish ;  and,  therefore,  life  calls 
for  all  the  diligence  and  perseverance,  all  the  tenacity 
of  purpose,  and  self-control,  and  patient  industry  which 
we  can  acquire. 

I  might  profitably  enlarge  upon  this.  There  are 
many  to  whom  this  seems  the  most  important  lesson. 
No  man  can  play  with  vice  without  endangering  his 
honor.  Vice,  ignorance,  idleness, — whatever  enfeebles 
the  hand  and  brain,  or  tempts  a  man  from  his  place 
in  the  ranks, — must  be  sternly  overcome  by  those  of 
us  who  would  make  our  lives  worth  living.  But 
this  is  not  the  lesson  taught  by  Paul.  Many  a  man 
has  had  all  the  qualities  of  success  and  has  suc- 
ceeded, and  yet  when  his  death-hour  came,  has  bit- 
terly felt  that  the  prize  was  not  worth  the  struggle. 
The  apostle  taught  that  there  are  some  things  worthier 
our   struggle  than   all    else,   and  that  satisfaction  will 


296  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

come  if  we  can  feel  that  for  these  things  we  have 
contended.  There  is  one  fight  going  on  all  the  time, 
which  is  called,  by  preeminence,  "  the  good  fight."  It 
is  the  copy  in  our  world  of  the  struggle  of  the  angel 
powers  themselves.  It  is  the  battle  of  light  with 
darkness.  It  is  the  gigantic  effort  of  the  human  soul, 
under  the  influence  of  God,  to  overcome  its  lusts,  to 
cleanse  its  abode  of  the  shames  and  wrongs  which  foul 
them.  It  is  the  struggle  of  the  mind  to  shake  off  the 
fetters  of  ignorance  and  slavish  fear,  and  to  come  out 
into  the  sunlight  of  God's  truth. 

For  a  man  to  be  captivated  by  the  mere  struggle 
for  existence,  or  for  pleasure  and  comfort,  is  for  him 
to  say  virtually  he  has  no  soul.  If  he  had,  he  would 
feel  that  the  fight  which  demands  his  life  is  that 
between  God  and  the  devil.  Its  forms  are  many, 
its  phases  innumerable.  But  in  them  all  there  is 
the  conflict  of  but  two  principles, — of  evil  against 
duty,  of  moral  slavery  against  freedom,  of  sin  against 
righteousness,  of  ignorance  and  error  against  knowl- 
edge and  truth.  The  greatest  source  of  satisfaction 
will  be  that  we  have  enlisted  in  this  war,  and  that 
we  have  fought  for  God.  We  may  have  had  hum- 
ble positions ;  we  may  have  received  many  wounds 
and  falls  ;  we  may  have  won  few  victories ;  we  may 
have  lived  but  a  few  years ;  but  we  have  done  what 
we  could,  and  our  lives  have  been  a  contention  not 
for   selfish  enjoyment,    but   for   the   advancement,    in 


A   NOBLE  LIFE  297 

some  way  and  in  some  relation,  of  the  kingdom  of 
divine  peace.  Fellow-men,  you  cannot  escape  conflict. 
Why  not  then  battle  for  what  is  right?  You  cannot 
escape  wounds.  Why  not  receive  wounds  of  honor? 
We  must  work,  and  toil,  and  suffer.  Why  not  do  it 
for  a  cause  which  will  give  us  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that,  whether  of  great  or  little  use,  we  have 
at  least  thrown  our  energies  into  "the  good  fight"? 

But  note  the  apostle's  second  cause  of  satisfac- 
tion in  his  review  of  his  life.  "  I  have  finished  the 
course."  What  course?  we  may  ask.  Clearly,  the 
course  appointed  him  by  God.  It  was  now  finished. 
He  had  reached  the  goal.  And  he  felt  satisfaction  in 
the  thought,  not  so  much  that  it  was  over,  as  that  he 
had  submitted  to  the  will  of  Him  who  had  directed 
his  way. 

Paul  was  a  conspicuous  example  of  a  man  whose 
life  had  been  chosen  for  him  by  God.  Certainly, 
the  course  along  which  he  had  come  was  one  of 
which,  in  the  beginning,  he  had  never  dreamed.  He 
had  chosen  to  become  the  valorous  champion  of 
Judaism.  God  chose  him  to  be  the  champion  of  the 
faith  against  which  Judaism  waged  war.  When  this 
direction  had  been  given  to  his  steps,  he  would  fain  have 
chosen  to  preach  to  his  own  people  whom  he  had 
zealously  misled.  But  God  chose  him  to  be  His  mes- 
senger to  the  Gentiles,  and  in  that  work  his  move- 
ments were   singularly  directed   from  above.     It  was 


298  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

the  Spirit  who  said  in  Antioch,  "  Separate  me  Barnabas 
and  Saul  for  the  work  to  which  I  have  called  them." 
It  was  the  Spirit  who  hindered  his  laboring  in  Ephesus 
until  he  had  first  carried  the  Gospel  to  Macedonia 
and  Greece.  It  was  the  choice  of  the  Master  that 
through  the  persecution  of  his  countrymen  he  should 
be  carried  to  Rome  and  enabled  by  his  very  imprison- 
ment to  tell  of  Christ  to  Caesar's  household.  If  ever 
a  man  had  reason  to  feel  himself  God's  instrument,  it 
was  Paul.  If  ever  a  man  had  reason  to  feel  that  noth- 
ing had  come  to  him  by  chance,  but  all  by  divine 
appointment,  it  was  Paul.  He  did  so  feel.  He  was 
impressed  with  the  conviction  that  he  was  God's  in- 
strument ;  that  he  had  been  raised  up  for  a  purpose ; 
that  his  had  been  a  course  marked  out  by  the  decree 
of  the  Almighty  in  order  to  the  salvation  of  mankind. 
Therefore,  in  his  last  hours,  looking  back  upon 
the  way,  he  enjoyed  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that 
his  life  had  been  God's  handiwork,  and  that  he  had 
fulfilled  the  divine  will.  Mark,  that  he  could  have  this 
feeling  even  though  conscious  of  many  shortcomings. 
No  man  was  ever  less  conceited  than  Paul.  So  far  as 
his  personal  character  was  concerned,  he  was  always 
ready  to  condemn  himself.  The  bitter  remembrance 
of  his  early  life  was  ever  uprooting  the  least  tendency 
to  pride ;  and  the  sense  of  ill  desert  was  repeatedly  ex- 
pressed. To  this  same  Timothy  he  had  but  lately 
called  himself  "  the  chief  of  sinners." 


A   NOBLE   LIFE  299 

Nor  did  the  apostle  mean  to  say  that  he  had  done 
for  Christ  all  the  work  he  would  like  to  have  done. 
There  were  regions  which  he  had  not  visited.  There 
were  millions  of  souls  who  had  never  heard  of  re- 
demption. He  was  far  from  wishing,  I  doubt  not,  to 
retire  from  the  ministry.  His  was  too  great  a  soul 
not  to  lay  plans  which  it  was  impossible  to  accom- 
plish. 

His  feeling  was  simply  that  what  he  had  been 
able  to  do  was  what  had  been  appointed  him  to  do. 
God  had  meant  him  to  do  so  much  and  no  more. 
He  included  in  his  review  of  his  course  all  events 
which  had  befallen  him.  He  included  his  sufferings, 
his  losses,  his  disappointments,  his  omissions,  as  well 
as  his  personal  labors  and  gains.  He  was  but  an  in- 
strument. The  work  which  he  had  not  been  able  to 
do  others  would  accomplish.  Every  good  man's  life 
fits  into  its  intended  place,  and  Paul's  joy  was  that  he 
had  been  made  willing  both  to  do  and  to  suffer  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God. 

According  to  this,  life  is  an  appointment.  We 
must  not  allow  this  view  to  degenerate  into  fatal- 
ism. We  must  not  make  it  an  excuse  for  idly  drift- 
ing with  the  current  of  circumstances.  No  man  was 
ever  so  strong  a  predestinarian  and,  at  the  same 
time,  so  energetic  a  worker  as  Paul.  The  view  of  life 
as  a  divine  appointment  in  all  its  parts,  which  he  has 
taught,  is  rather  a  summons  to  do  with  all  our  might 


300  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

the  will  of  God.  It  is  the  appointment  of  freemen, 
not  the  bondage  of  slaves.  But  with  this  caution,  we 
may  find  in  it  a  grand  secret  of  strength  and  of  true 
success.  How  inspiring  is  the  thought  that  this  in- 
tricate system  which  we  call  society,  this  infinitely 
involved  life  of  humanity,  is  working  out  the  purpose 
of  the  One  in  whom  the  whole  lives  and  moves  and 
has  its  being!  If  so,  then  true  success  consists  in 
doing  the  part  assigned  us.  The  best  workman  in  a 
factory  is  not  one  who  tries  to  do  everything,  who 
thinks  he  knows  everything,  but  the  one  who  does 
his  own  work  perfectly.  A  complete  life  is  one  which 
has  done  its  own  work.  You  who  are  young  know 
not  what  your  part  is  to  be.  It  may  involve  great 
suffering,  or  it  may  involve  great  wealth.  We  cannot 
tell.  But  whatever  it  involves,  it  is  part  of  the  divine 
plan,  and  if  we  are  God's,  it  will  work  out  our  own 
good. 

Therefore,  he  is  the  wisest  man  who  goes  into  life 
with  the  conviction  that  he  has  something  definite 
to  do  there,  and  makes  it  his  business  to  follow,  as 
best  he  can,  the  indications  of  Providence.  True,  God 
does  not  send  us  our  orders  as  a  general  sends  his  to 
his  soldiers.  But  He  has  given  us  plain  directions 
about  the  principles  to  govern  life,  and  His  Providence 
supplies  the  material  to  which  we  are  to  apply  them. 
The  noblest  life  is  not  that  which  seeks  to  do  its  own 
will,  neither  is  it  that  which  indolently  waits  for  God 


A    XOBLE   LIFE  301 

to  do  His  will  with  it.  The  noblest  life  is  that  which 
strives  to  do  His  will.  This  means  the  greatest  conse- 
crated resignation  in  its  place,  and  patience  in  its  place, 
and  industry  in  its  place,  and  joy  and  peace  in  all 
places ;  and,  through  all,  it  means  a  living  faith — 
not  merely  faith  in  the  past  or  in  the  future,  but  faith 
in  the  present  as  the  manifestation  of  God's  wisdom. 

It  is  this  faith  which  makes  a  man  work  while  it 
is  called  to-day — "  not  slothful  in  business,  fervent  in 
spirit,  serving  the  Lord " — and  which  also  makes 
him  take  reverses  without  despair,  and  afflictions 
without  doubting,  and  meet  death  with  joy.  It  is 
equally  the  faith  for  the  martyr  and  for  the  man  of 
business,  for  the  king  and  for  the  peasant.  Each 
one  of  us  has  his  own  course.  Let  a  man  take 
Christ  for  his  Master,  and  then,  be  his  fortune  what 
it  may,  if  only  he  follow  his  Guide,  he  will  have  the 
satisfaction  of  feeling,  at  the  end,  that  his  life,  though 
it  were  the  humblest,  had  been  like  the  apostle's, 
yea,  like  Christ's, — part  of  God's  plan  in  the  salva- 
tion of  man.  What  inspiration  better  than  this ! 
What  bitterness  to  feel  at  death  that  one  has  fought 
against  wisdom  in  the  vain  effort  to  serve  oneself! 
What  peace  to  be  able  to  feel  that  we  have  "  finished 
the  course !" 

And  now  you  will  notice  that  in  the  remaining 
clause  of  this  terse  and  eloquent  passage,  which  fell 
from  the  apostle's  lips  under  the  evident  strain  of  in- 


3<D2  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

tense  emotion,  he  states  in  plain  terms  the  original 
source  of  this  satisfaction  which  in  the  previous  clauses 
we  have  found  him  to  express  under  such  forcible 
figures.  "  I  have  fought  the  good  fight,"  have  thrown 
my  energy  on  the  side  of  Christ  and  righteousness.  I 
have  finished  the  course,  have  done  my  appointed  task 
of  mingled  suffering  and  action.  In  fine,  "  I  have  kept 
the  faith  " — and,  as  we  have  seen,  that  good  fight  is  the 
battle  of  faith ;  and  the  appointed  course  is  the  way 
of  faith.  It  is  evident  that  in  this  last  clause  we  have 
the  plain,  straightforward  statement  of  the  source  of 
the  dying  apostle's  joy. 

He  had  kept  the  faith.  He  speaks  of  it  as  a  trust 
committed  to  his  care.  It  had  been  given  him  by 
revelation  from  God,  and  to  it  he  had  devoted  his 
whole  life.  He  had  kept  it  from  the  covert  attacks  of 
mistaken  Christians  and  the  open  assaults  of  unbelief. 
He  had  kept  it  through  those  hours  of  spiritual  dark- 
ness through  which  he,  no  less  than  others,  had  had 
to  pass.  He  had  kept  it  in  Jerusalem  before  the  mob 
howling  for  his  denial  of  it ;  before  philosophers  who 
sneered  at  its  absurdity;  before  Roman  power,  with  its 
burning  pitch,  and  bloody  arena,  and  executioner's 
block. 

Wonderfully  varied  had  Paul's  trials  been.  The 
prince  of  this  world  had  used  his  shrewdest  devices 
to  filch  his  faith  away.  But  the  believer  had  kept 
his  treasure,  and  now  that  the  war  and  toil  were  over, 


A   NOBLE  LIFE  303 

his  faith  stood  by  his  side,  like  a  protecting  angel, 
pointing  to  the  near  reward. 

It  is  certain  that  this  is,  in  substance,  the  supreme 
duty  for  you  and  me.  This  phrase  puts  before  us  the 
principle  by  which  alone  our  lives  can  be  redeemed 
from  eternal  ruin.  What  you  need,  fellow-men,  in 
your  passage  through  this  world,  is  to  keep  the 
faith.  You  have  received  it  from  God  as  truly  as 
Paul  did.  You  are  heirs  of  nineteen  Christian  cen- 
turies— spiritual  children  of  apostles,  and  prophets,  and 
confessors — and  there  is  no  treasure  which  birth  or 
work  can  give  you  equal  to  this  Christian  faith. 

You  will  find  this  advice  sorely  needed.  For  the 
chief  object  of  all  evil  is  to  take  your  faith  away.  I 
mean  not  merely  that  to  this  end  are  the  arguments  of 
professed  infidelity  directed.  To  this  end  are  directed 
also  the  far  subtler  arguments  of  the  practical  world 
with  which  you  must  mingle.  The  pressure  of  constant 
work  will  tend  to  rob  you  of  your  faith,  because  it  will 
suggest  that  what  you  gain  comes  only  from  your  own 
skill  and  toil.  The  ways  of  the  world,  in  its  social 
relations,  will  too  often  suggest  that  it  is  folly  to  live 
for  distant  pleasures  and  rewards  when  tangible  ones 
can  be  had  immediately.  Then,  in  the  association  of 
trial  and  sorrow,  you  will  feel  a  giant's  hand  striving  to 
wrest  from  you  your  faith  in  the  goodness  and  being 
of  God.  You  will  find  it  the  struggle  of  struggles  to 
maintain  your  faith  in  God  when  His  ways  are  strange; 


304  FAITH  AAD   LIFE 

your  faith  in  man  when  the  soul  is  hidden  in  fleshli- 
ness  and  sin  ;  your  faith  in  immortality  ;  and,  as  the 
centre  of  all  truth,  your  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  And 
even  as  you  rally  your  resolution  there  will  sometimes 
come  the  sickening  doubt  whether  you  are  right  in 
maintaining  the  contest, — whether  you  and  your  fellow- 
men  might  not  as  well  lie  down  like  beasts  in  the  dust 
and  die. 

I  say  this  not  to  encourage  doubt,  but  to  warn 
you  of  the  lofty  enterprise  to  which  God  calls  us 
in  this  world.  It  is  to  live  by  faith, — yea,  by  the 
faith  of  the  Son  of  God  who  loves  you.  How  do  we 
know  it  ?  We  know  it  by  the  fruits  which  "  the  faith  " 
has  always  borne ;  so  that  no  lives  are  so  God-like  as 
those  of  believers.  We  know  by  the  clear  historic 
testimony  which  has  been  borne  to  the  truth  of  Jesus ; 
by  the  effects  which  faith  in  Him  have  produced  in  the 
life  of  humanity.  We  know  it  by  the  testimony  of  our 
own  souls  to  their  spiritual  and  God-like  nature.  This 
is  no  mere  dogma  of  theology.  This  is  no  invention 
of  priests.  Faith  is  a  necessity  of  the  soul,  if  man 
would  not  find  himself  wandering  away  from  and 
losing  sight  of  the  Ideal  of  perfection  which  he  calls 
his  God.  What  is  more  horrible  than  a  soul  that 
has  lost  the  faith  ?  With  it,  it  has  lost  hope,  and  the 
future  is  mist  and  blackness.  With  it,  it  has  lost  cour- 
age, for  the  stimulus  of  courage  has  been  destroyed. 
With  its  faith,  it  has  lost  its  sense  of  God  and  eternity, 


A   NOBLE  LIFE  305 

and  must,  therefore,  needs  dwindle  into  either  a  sneer- 
ing skeptic  or  a  child  of  passion  and  of  sin. 

I  beseech  you,  young  men,  to  keep  the  faith.  I  am 
not  pleading  for  any  blind  adherence  to  tradition 
for  tradition's  sake.  Let  your  faith  grow  with  grow- 
ing knowledge  and  ripen  with  the  experience  of  life. 
I  am  pleading  for  that  living,  spiritual  power,  that 
conviction  of  the  truth  and  that  sense  of  the  universal 
reality  of  God  and  of  Christ  as  the  only  Saviour, 
which  is  rightly  called  "the  faith,"  and  by  which  alone 
you  can  resist  the  evil  and  attain  to  the  final  good. 
This  is  the  shield  by  which  you  may  quench  the  fiery 
darts  of  the  wicked  one.  This  is  the  treasure  by 
guarding  which  you  will  become  fit  for  the  enjoyment 
of  heaven  and  a  victor  in  the  present  battle  of  life. 
Behold  the  dying  apostle,  smiling  amid  his  martyrdom, 
as  he  catches  sight  of  the  crown  of  righteousness 
waiting  to  adorn  his  brow ;  and  let  it  give  force  to 
the  words  which  Christ  sent  to  His  people  in  their 
temptation  :  "  Hold  fast  that  thou  hast :  let  no  man 
take  thy  crown." 

Fellow-men,  God  pleads  for  your  outspoken  faith. 
Without  it,  you  are  lost  souls.  With  it,  you  may  be 
more  than  conquerors.  In  your  business  and  in  your 
studies,  in  your  private  lives  and  in  your  public  stations, 
let  the  words  of  inspiration  ever  ring  in  your  ear: 
"This  is  the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world,  even 
our  faith." 
20 


XVII 

GOD'S  EDUCATION  OF  HIS  CHILDREN 

"  As  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over  her  young,  spread- 
eth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth  them  on  her  wings  :  so  the 
Lord  alone  did  lead  him,  and  there  was  uo  strange  god  with  him." — 
Deut.  xxxii.  ii,  12. 

That  God  is  in  this  world  educating  His  children, 
is  a  truth  that  puts  us  in  a  position  to  understand 
much  of  His  dealing  with  us  that  would  otherwise 
be  unaccountable.  If  He  be  thus  doing,  He  must 
accommodate,  for  example,  His  disclosure  of  truth 
to  our  capacities :  these  must  expand  before  more 
truth  can  be  received.  Slowly  must  the  training 
proceed  in  order  that  our  faculties  may  be  strength- 
ened, our  sympathies  quickened,  our  whole  being 
lifted  from  step  to  step  in  the  ascent  toward  complete 
knowledge. 

This,  you  will  see,  throws  light  on  the  slowness  with 
which  revelation  itself  was  given  to  the  world,  the 
time  extending  over  a  period  of  at  least  fifteen  hun- 
dred years ;  on  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  it  was 
interwoven  with  the  history  of  national,  and  the  prog- 
ress of  individual,  life ;  on  the  gradual  way  in  which 
the  world,  as  a  whole,  is  being  led  into  the  knowledge 
of  divine  truth.     When  we  consider  the  vast  numbers 

307 


308  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

of  our  race,  and  the  intricacy  of  the  process  by  which 
human  souls  must  be  trained,  we  must  feci  that 
the  slow  growth  of  man  into  the  divine  life  is  not  so 
strange  as  at  first  might  appear.  And  we  shall  per- 
ceive that  this  method  is  employed  not  because  God 
does  not  know  the  end  from  the  beginning ;  and  not 
because  He  cannot,  if  He  choose,  work  miracles  of 
transformation ;  but  because  it  is  better  for  us  that  the 
course  should  be  made  by  regular  and  gradual  pro- 
cesses,— by  methods  adapted  to  us  rather  than  to 
God. 

This  idea  of  patient  training  is  expressed  in  our 
text  with  reference  to  God's  treatment  of  Israel.  The 
passage  is  part  of  the  magnificent  song  which  Moses 
addressed  to  the  people  before  he  left  them,  a  song 
to  which  he  was  specially  inspired,  and  in  which  he 
most  poetically  described  their  God  and  His  dealing 
with  them.  Jehovah  had  found  them  lost  and  perish- 
ing; forgetful  of  their  ancestral  faith;  polluted  by 
pagan  influences  and  by  years  of  degrading  bondage. 
Very  patiently  had  He  trained  them  ;  seeking  to  bring 
out  their  strength,  but  most  compassionate  of  their 
weakness  ;  instructing  them  in  the  way  of  salvation 
and  forgiving  their  repeated  transgressions ;  correct- 
ing their  faults  and  developing  their  powers. 

In  this  work  Moses  himself  had  shared,  and  he  could 
speak  of  it  feelingly.  He  had  been  the  under-teacher, 
but  he  knew  well   that  the  truth  taught  was  God's,  not 


GOD'S  EDUCATION  OF  HIS   CHILDREN       309 

his;  the  plan  pursued,  the  patience  shown,  the  wisdom 
manifested,  the  protection  afforded,  had  all  been  the 
Lord's  own  doing.  This  he  depicted  under  the  figure 
of  an  eagle  teaching  her  young  to  fly.  Her  object  is 
to  train  their  powers  and,  meanwhile,  to  protect  them 
from  peril. 

As  the  picture  of  the  text  is  a  most  striking  and 
beautiful  one,  so  the  thought  it  contains,  of  the  two- 
fold purpose  of  God  in  the  education  of  His  people, 
is  a  theme  of  universal  application  to  all  who  by 
faith  number  themselves  among  His  Israel.  Let  me 
present  it  to  you  in  its  application  to  ourselves. 
God  is  educating  His  people.  If  we  rebel  against 
Him,  wre  are  like  truant  children  who  will  not  so  to 
school,  and  who  must  take  the  consequences  of  igno- 
rance and  self-will.  If  we  submit,  we  shall  find  that, 
in  this  sense  also,  He  is  our  Father.  Observe  that, 
according  to  the  text,  the  double  purpose  in  God's 
mind  in  relation  to  us  is  our  development  and  our  pro- 
tection.    Let  us  consider  these  in  turn. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  God  seeks  by  His  treat- 
ment of  us  on  earth  to  develop  in  us  spiritual  powers. 
I  ought  to  guard  this  statement,  indeed,  by  remarking 
that  He  does  something  more  than  simply  develop. 
It  is  not  true  that  mere  education,  even  by  a  divine 
hand,  will  suffice  to  make  any  man  what  he  ought  to 
be.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  same  course 
will  benefit  some  and  harm  others.     Nor  is  this  dif- 


3IO  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

ference  a  mere  matter  of  nature.  It  is  not  true  that 
some  are  born  good  and  some  bad;  just  as  some 
are  born  bright  and  some  dull.  The  Bible  explicitly 
declares  all  to  be  born  bad :  and,  therefore,  before 
God  can  begin  His  education  of  the  soul  the  germ 
of  spiritual  life  must  be  implanted  in  it.  You  can- 
not train  a  dead  vine,  be  the  soil  never  so  fertile 
and  the  sun  never  so  constant.  You  cannot  educate 
an  imbecile.     There  must  be  life  to  be  developed. 

Hence  in  speaking  of  God's  education,  we  can  only 
refer  to  those  in  whom  the  spirit  of  faith  has  begun  to 
dwell.  To  be  sure,  God  may  educate  the  race  intel- 
lectually, but  that  does  not  secure  the  salvation  of 
every  member  of  the  race.  I  would  speak  rather 
of  His  education  of  His  people.  They  are  believers. 
They  have  the  Spirit.  Only,  their  faith  is  perhaps  as 
small  as  a  grain  of  mustard-seed ;  their  life  is  so  weak 
and  immature  as  to  be  like  to  the  life  of  a  weak  plant 
rather  than  of  a  spiritual  soul.  It  is,  however,  on  this 
basis  that  God  works,  and  the  purpose  of  our  text  is 
to  bring  out  His  tender  care  in  the  development  of 
the  souls  of  His  children.  For  to  as  many  as  receive 
Him,  to  them  gives  He  power  to  become  the  sons  of 
God,  which  are  born  not  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor 
of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God. 

With  this  proviso,  notice  the  evidence  which  life 
affords  of  God's  desire  to  develop  our  powers.  It 
appears,  first  of  all,  in  His  recognition  of  our  individual 


GOD'S  EDUCATION  OF  HIS   CHILDREN       31  I 

freedom.  We  touch  here  upon  a  confessedly  difficult 
subject;  yet  the  general  fact  is  certain  and  the  bear- 
ing of  it  on  our  education  is  plain.  We  are  con- 
scious of  being  in  some  sense  free.  To  be  sure,  we 
are  also  sensible  that  our  freedom  is  limited.  We 
cannot  do  all  that  we  may  choose.  Our  freedom  is 
limited  by  our  circumstances,  which  may  as  effectually 
confine  us  as  a  cage  does  a  bird.  It  is  limited  by  the 
rights  and  powers  of  others  ;  by  misfortune  or  by  the 
habits  of  our  own  minds.  Above  all  do  we  know  that 
our  freedom  is  limited  by  the  moral  law  and  by  God 
Himself.  But  nevertheless  we  know  that  we  are  free. 
We  are  conscious  of  acting  upon  reasons ;  of  being 
governed  by  intelligible  motives.  We  select  our  aims 
and  work  toward  them.  We  recognize  certain  prin- 
ciples and  confess  our  allegiance  to  them.  Or  perhaps 
we  rebel  against  them.  We  love,  and  hate,  and  think. 
So  that  while  we  are  surrounded  by  forces  mightier 
than  we,  while  we  are  no  doubt  entirely  dependent 
upon  God  at  every  moment  and  in  every  act  for  our 
very  existence,  still  we  are  not  mere  pieces  of  ma- 
chinery, but  rational  and  self-acting  spirits. 

It  matters  not,  I  conceive,  whether  this  freedom  be 
all  that  we  may  suppose  it  to  be  or  not.  It  matters 
not  that  we  are  often  influenced  by  forces  of  whose 
action  we  know  nothing ;  nor  that,  unknown  to  us, 
God  Himself  may  be  working  in  us  and  with  us. 
Whatever  may  be  back  of  our   conscious  life,  in  it  we 


312  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

are  sensible  of  acting  upon  motives,  and  being  gov- 
erned by  truth,  and  of  growing  in  intelligence,  and  of 
making  discoveries.  This  is  part  of  man's  personality; 
and  therefore  if  he  is  to  develop,  it  must  be  after  the 
manner  not  of  a  machine,  by  having  new  parts  added 
to  it  externally,  but  by  the  exercise  of  his  powers,  so 
that  he  grows  from  within  outward,  and  transforms 
what  he  receives  into  part  of  his  very  being. 

Therefore,  mark  how  God  presents  to  us  the  truth. 
No  doubt,  if  He  chose  He  might  by  His  power  make 
us  become  quickly  what  we  ought  to  be ;  might  take 
away  all  our  love  of  sin ;  might  at  once  create  within 
us  clean  hearts;  and  might  cause  to  dawn  upon  our 
minds  at  one  vision  the  whole  of  truth.  At  least  we 
may  imagine  such  a  proceeding,  though  probably  you 
all  feel  that  it  would  be  so  mechanical  that  it  would  not 
really  develop  us.  It  would  be  the  making  of  a  new 
race,  not  the  uplifting  of  the  old  race.  But  whether 
supposable  or  not,  this  is  certainly  not  the  way  in 
which  God  purifies  and  enlightens  us.  He  uses  truth. 
He  treats  us  as  intelligent  persons  to  be  persuaded  and 
convinced.  He  has  been  at  great  pains  to  reveal  to 
us  Himself  and  His  will ;  and  that  too,  little  by  little, 
line  upon  line,  and  precept  upon  precept,  that  we  may 
take  it  in. 

He,  therefore,  presents  to  us  Christ,  and  invites 
our  faith  :  gives  us  evidence  to  weigh  and  an  ex- 
ample   to    inspire.       The    Spirit    uses    the    truth    to 


GOD'S  EDUCATION  OF  HIS  CHILDREN       313 

change  our  natures.  No  grown  man  can  be  converted 
except  through  the  apprehension  of  the  truth.  You 
cannot  change  his  life  as  you  might  change  his  coat, 
by  some  magical  process,  unintelligible  to  himself. 
The  Spirit  enlightens  our  minds  in  the  knowledge  of 
Christ,  and  persuades  and  enables  us  to  embrace  Jesus 
Christ  freely  offered  to  us  in  the  Gospel.  And  so  on 
through  the  Christian  life.  We  are  to  know  the  truth 
that  it  may  make  us  free.  We  are  to  strive  to  enlarge 
our  knowledge  of  it;  to  apprehend  its  meaning  and 
its  proofs ;  to  grow  into  it  by  its  growing  into  us. 
This  is  the  development,  you  see,  of  a  spirit,  not  the 
growth  of  an  animal  or  the  erection  of  a  building ; 
and,  therefore,  God  presents  to  you  His  truth,  that  by 
your  personal  apprehension  of  it,  you — a  free  and 
thinking  soul — may  develop  in  the  directions  which 
the  truth  commands. 

So,  also,  consider  how  God  holds  us  accountable 
for  our  conduct.  Accountability  implies  intelligence 
and  freedom.  It  supposes  that  we  are  able  to  appre- 
ciate a  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  between 
truth  and  error.  You  would  not  reward  or  punish 
an  inanimate  object  or  a  mere  soulless  animal.  Yet 
man  is  to  be  rewarded  or  punished.  Very  clearly  does 
the  Bible  reveal  this.  Christ  is  to  pass  judgment  upon 
our  lives.  It  will  be  a  perfectly  fair  judgment.  It 
will  take  into  consideration  our  advantages  and  the 
amount   of  knowledge   we   have   possessed.     It   will 


3  H  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

make  no  mistakes.  It  will  not  give  praise  to  actions 
which  have  proceeded  from  hypocritical  motives,  nor 
blame  to  errors  which  have  been  ignorantly  com- 
mitted. We  must  not  imagine  that  a  single  inflexible 
standard  will  be  made  the  measure  by  which  all  shall 
be  gauged,  or  that  the  judgment  of  God  is  a  procrus- 
tean  bed  into  which  all  shall  be  fitted. 

All  these  provisions  for  fair  decision  imply  that 
God  treats  us  as  intelligent  and  moral  beings,  upon 
whom  he  throws  responsibility,  partly,  at  least,  in 
order  that  we  may  be  developed.  We  all  know 
how  earthly  responsibilities  develop  men.  They 
either  develop  or  crush  them.  If  a  man  prove  equal 
to  his  position,  he  grows  in  power.  The  sense  of  its 
worth  calls  out  his  energies.  The  foresight  of  its  con- 
sequences makes  him  rise  to  its  requirements.  The 
responsibilities  of  life — from  which,  perhaps,  in  our 
weaker  moments,  we  would  like  to  fly — are  the  means 
of  our  personal  culture,  without  which  we  should  ever 
remain  like  children  in  the  nursery.  So  our  responsi- 
bility to  God  is  meant  to  bring  us  out.  It  is  the 
recognition  by  Him  of  our  spiritual  natures,  of  our 
likeness  to  Himself;  and  we  may  most  confidently 
affirm  that  nothing  could  take  the  place  of  responsi- 
bility in  leading  man  into  a  really  noble  life. 

Nor  should  I  fail  to  point  out  in  this  connection  the 
evident  purpose  of  God's  requiring  of  us  all  personal 
work  of  some  kind  in   this  world.     The  necessity  of 


GOD'S  EDUCATION  OF  HIS   CHILDREN       315 

work  is  absolute  for  man.  No  one  is  exempt,  al- 
though the  kind  of  work  required  differs  greatly  in 
different  cases.  This  is  a  working  world.  The  com- 
mand to  work  was  not  given  after,  but  before,  the  fall. 
In  Eden  itself  our  first  parents  were  provided  with 
employment.  So  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  work 
is  distributed  to  every  servant.  "  To  every  man  his 
work,"  said  the  Lord  Himself.  Under  this  we  are  to 
include  our  secular  occupations.  They  are  the  posts 
assigned  to  us  by  Providence,  and  are  quite  as  truly 
required  of  us  as  our  more  spiritual  toil  can  be.  Under 
this  are  to  be  included  home  duties  likewise.  Then  to 
these  are  to  be  added  spiritual  work — work  for  Christ  in 
our  own  souls  and  in  the  world.  Viewed  thus  largely 
there  is  no  exemption  from  the  necessity  of  work. 
We  must  not  separate  the  different  kinds  of  work,  as 
though  God  gave  some  and  not  others.  They  are  all 
alike  our  work,  the  duties  laid  on  us  in  our  various 
relations.  They  are  all,  therefore,  the  means  of  train- 
ing. And  this  is,  perhaps,  their  chief  object  in  God's 
sight. 

Certainly  God  could  carry  on  His  own  universe 
without  our  cooperation.  He  does  not  need  laborers 
in  His  vineyard.  He  could  put  His  own  money  to 
interest  without  entrusting  it  to  the  care  of  His  ser- 
vants. But  then  they  would  not  be  developed.  For  this, 
too,  is  the  means  of  bringing  out  our  powers.  If  you 
want  to  help  a  man,  the  best  thing  you  can  do  for  him 


316  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

is  to  give  him  work.  Merely  to  put  money  into  his 
pocket  is  apt  to  do  more  harm  than  good,  though  it 
is  far  easier.  But  work  will  help  him  more.  It 
will  not  merely  support,  but  improve  him.  It  will 
make  a  man  of  him  :  and,  if  he  be  worth  aiding  at  all, 
he  will  be  far  more  grateful  for  a  situation  than  for  a 
gratuity.  Hence  you  see  God's  object.  It  matters  lit- 
tle what  the  work  be,  so  that  we  do  it,  and  do  it  well. 
We  become  co-workers  with  him.  The  labor  of  life  is 
not  a  curse  but  a  blessing,  if  we  engage  in  it  with 
right  aims.  It  is  meant  to  mature  us ;  to  call  out  our 
faculties;  to  develop  our  patience  and  our  endurance; 
and  to  test  the  spirit  that  is  in  us  ;  and  from  a  working 
life  of  some  sort  we  should  not  desire  to  be  relieved. 
Finally,  notice  the  light  cast  by  this  truth  on 
the  troubles  and  sufferings  which  God  permits  to 
befall  us.  That  these  are  part  of  our  training  we  are 
expressly  taught.  They  are  not  sent  in  anger;  for 
whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth 
every  son  whom  He  receiveth.  Nor  are  they  mere 
accidents  of  life,  without  purpose  and  uncontrolled ; 
for  though  a  man  "  fall,  he  shall  not  be  utterly  cast 
down :  for  the  Lord  upholdeth  him  with  His  hand." 
We  should  not,  indeed,  belittle  God's  purposes  by 
supposing  that  our  individual  benefit  is  the  main  object 
in  all  the  trials  of  life.  On  the  contrary,  His  purposes 
are  vaster.  He  is  dealing  with  many  children  at  the 
same  time,  and  one  event  will  often   have  a  score  of 


GOD'S  EDUCATION  OF  HIS   CHI  ID  REN       317 

purposes.  But  neither  should  we  go  to  the  other  ex- 
treme, and  think  that  these  trials  have  no  individual 
worth  and  meaning  for  us.  That  they  have  is  proved 
by  what  they  may  effect.  For  there  is  a  strength  won 
from  suffering  superior,  ofttimes,  to  any  other.  Our 
falls  and  failures  may  make  us  wiser  and  stronger 
than  ever  success  could  have  done.  Our  losses  and 
bereavements  may,  by  being  humbly  borne,  produce 
a  spiritual  vigor,  a  spirituality  of  mind,  which  never 
would  have  bloomed  under  the  constant  sunshine  of 
prosperity.  Many  a  man  has  had  reason  to  say,  with 
David,  "  Before  I  was  afflicted  I  went  astray;  but  now 
have  I  kept  Thy  word." 

Purification  by  fire  is  oftentimes  the  only  way  of 
separating  gold  from  dross.  The  strength  which 
comes  by  resisting  the  temptation  to  rebel  and 
complain ;  the  faith  which  is  exercised  in  darkness 
and  grief;  the  love  which  gleams  through  tears, 
are  developments  of  character  the  purest  and  best. 
Of  these  the  Master  sufferer  is  the  great  example. 
It  is  written  of  Him  that  though  He  were  a  Son, 
yet  learned  He  obedience  by  the  things  which  He 
suffered.  He  was  perfected  by  suffering.  Even  He 
needed  this  education  :  not,  indeed,  for  the  purpose 
of  purifying  Him,  for  He  was  always  pure,  but  for 
the  purpose  of  enabling  Him  to  perform  the  work  of 
man's  redemption.  Thus  even  trial  is  part  of  our 
education.     It,  too,  is  due  to  God's  recognition  of  our 


318  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

spiritual  natures.  It  is  the  mark  of  our  sonship,  for 
by  it  God  would  fit  us  to  share  the  life  and  glory  of 
His  greater  Son. 

Such,  then,  are  some  of  the  signs  of  God's  desire  to 
develop  His  children.  There  is  not  one  of  these  facts 
of  life  under  which  we  do  not  sometimes  repine.  We 
would  even  like  to  be  relieved  of  our  freedom,  for 
we  shrink  from  its  tremendous  responsibilities.  We 
would  like  to  be  manufactured  by  magic  into  saints, 
without  the  peril  and  labor  of  learning  the  truth  and 
following  it.  Fain  would  we  escape  work,  and  still 
more  gladly  would  we  fly  from  trouble.  But  think 
what  these  things  mean.  The  eagle  is  teaching  her 
young  to  fly.  They  must  acquire  the  use  of  wings. 
They  must  be  pushed  out  of  the  nest  which  overhangs 
the  precipice  that,  perforce,  they  may  exercise  their 
powers.  Otherwise  they  will  never  soar  into  the  azure, 
nor  fly  with  the  boldness  which  belongs  to  them  into 
the  sun.  So  a  father  would  teach  his  children  to  live. 
He  wants  to  make  men  and  women  of  them.  He 
does  not  like  to  keep  them  forever  in  the  nursery. 
He  wants  to  see  them  taking  their  places  in  the  world, 
exercising  their  faculties,  becoming  his  own  equals  and 
friends.     And  thus  our  God  would  do. 

If  it  were  a  mere  matter  of  power,  God  could  make 
a  race  of  perfect  souls  at  any  time.  But  it  is  a  matter 
of  love  also,  of  joy  in  the  growing  life  of  His  children 
in   their  progress   upward  and  toward   Himself.      Do 


GOD'S  EDUCATION  OF  HIS   CHI  ID  REN       319 

you  say,  you  would  rather  be  excused  ?  You  do  not 
want  to  be  educated  ?  You  have  no  desire  to  rise  ? 
You  can  escape  it  if  you  will ;  but  if  you  do,  you  sink 
away  from  life,  and  happiness,  and  peace.  It  is  part  of 
your  spiritual  birthright  to  be  trained :  and  though  in 
hours  of  weakness  we  may  shrink  from  the  process, 
yet,  surely,  in  a  better  moment  we  shall  give  thanks 
that  the  unseen  Teacher  has  us  in  hand,  and  that,  by 
His  guidance,  even  we,  weak  and  worthless  as  we  may 
be,  shall  grow  into  the  glorious  life  of  the  children 
of  God. 

And  that  we  may  not  fear,  I  bid  you  note  the  other 
fact  in  God's  education  of  His  children,  which  I  sug- 
gested, but  which  I  can  now  only  mention,  without 
expanding  it  as  I  should  like  to  do.  I  mean  His  work 
of  protection.  Quite  beautifully  does  the  figure  of  the 
eagle  teaching  her  young  to  fly  illustrate  this.  "As  an 
eagle,"  said  Moses,  "  stirreth  up  her  nest " — there  is 
the  compulsion  to  flight,  the  necessity  of  development. 
And  now  follows  the  emblem  of  protection:  "  fluttereth 
over  her  young,  spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh 
them,  beareth  them  on  her  wings ;  so  the  Lord  alone 
did  lead  him,  and  there  was  no  strange  god  with  him." 
Here  we  have  a  picture  of  the  parent  bird  first  forc- 
ing her  young  to  fly;  and  then  hovering  about  them 
lest  they  fall,  spreading  her  strong,  broad  wings  beneath 
them  when  they  are  weary :  at  once  casting  them  on 
themselves  and  upholding  them  lest  they  perish. 


320  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

You  see  how  provision  is  made  for  our  weakness. 
If  life  were  but  a  stern  education,  it  would  be  hard 
indeed.  If  God  merely  cast  us  forth  to  develop  our 
faculties  by  struggle  and  toil,  we  should  no  doubt 
often  go  down  into  the  dust.  But  in  the  exquisite 
figure  of  the  text  both  sides  of  His  care  are  equally 
presented.  The  father  would  have  his  son  become 
a  strong,  well  developed,  well  educated  man  ;  but  he 
does  not,  therefore,  send  him  out  into  the  world, 
without  sympathy  or  aid,  to  make  his  own  way. 
He  is  ever  ready  to  protect  and  help,  as  may  be 
wise.  Thus  the  highest  result  will  be  obtained,  and 
God's  children  may  know  that,  while  He  would  de- 
velop them  into  a  strong,  mature,  Godlike  life,  He  is 
always  by  their  side  lest  they  fall. 

For  God  is  always  with  us.  Unseen,  He  sees ;  un- 
heard, He  hears  ;  unfelt,  He  upholds.  The  sense  of 
this  divine  presence  may  of  itself  quicken  our  own 
powers.  Even  the  one  who  has  wandered  farthest 
need  not,  like  the  prodigal,  think  of  his  father  as  away 
in  a  distant  home.  That  was  true  only  in  the  story. 
In  fact  the  Father  is  always  near.  When  we  work, 
He  works  in  us,  and  the  heart  of  the  believer  may 
teem  with  new  energy  when  mindful  of  the  everlast- 
ing arms  that  are  underneath  and  round  about  him 
at  all  times. 

For  God's  presence  means  His  watchfulness  and 
sympathy.      He    is    not    present   as    an    unconscious 


GOD'S  EDUCATION  OF  HIS   CHILDREN       32  I 

force  or  as  a  careless  observer.  He  is  not  present 
as  nature  is — who  folds  us  in  a  cold  embrace.  He 
is  not  present  as  men  are,  to  criticize  as  much  as  to 
help.  He  is  present  at  every  moment,  and  in  every 
place,  in  all  the  fullness  of  His  personal  love.  "  I  am 
poor  and  needy,  yet  the  Lord  thinketh  upon  me." 
This  effort  to  understand  His  truth,  and  to  follow  it, 
He  does  not  fail  to  see,  and  to  encourage.  This 
brave  acceptance  of  responsibility  awakens  at  once  His 
sympathy,  and  leads  Him  to  instill  into  feeble  hearts 
hearty  strength.  This  obedient  performance  of  duty, 
this  meek  acceptance  of  sorrow,  are  all  observed  by 
Him — and  as  our  day  is,  so  shall  our  strength  be. 
Yes,  in  this  perilous  affair  of  our  spiritual  growth — 
exposed  as  we  are  to  enemies,  unused  as  we  are  to 
such  attempts,  childish  as  our  power  and  wisdom  must 
appear — He  is  protecting  that  our  education  may  pro- 
ceed. If  He  compel  us  to  meet  temptation,  He  will 
not  allow  it  to  be  greater  than  we  can  bear.  If  He 
force  us  out  of  our  quiet  retreats  into  the  stern, 
hard,  weary  battle  of  life,  He  covers  us  with  His 
shield,  and  puts  vigor  into  our  arms  and  a  sword 
into  our  hands.  If  He  send  grievous  sorrow,  if 
He  lead  through  fierce  mental  conflicts,  if  pain 
must  be  our  lesson  and  the  rod  our  instructor, 
nevertheless,  His  protection  fails  not.  Ah !  this  is 
true  education.  It  combines  protection  with  devel- 
opment, and  I  take  it  that  as  the  evident  facts  of 
21 


322  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

freedom,  and  responsibility,  and  work,  and  suffering 
prove  that  God  would  really  develop  our  souls  into 
perfect  fellowship  with  Himself;  so  the  experience 
of  His  people  as  plainly  testifies  that  throughout  the 
whole  process,  however  long,  He  is  their  shield, 
their  refuge,  and  their  strength. 

I  pray  you,  therefore,  to  accept  this  great  lesson  of 
life.  What  is  more  common  than  for  people  to  put 
themselves  under  the  training  of  a  master — be  it  in 
art,  or  science,  or  trade  ?  Do  we  not  need  even  more 
sorely  a  master  in  the  art  of  living  ?  Shall  we  not  put 
ourselves  with  confidence  into  the  hand  of  the  divine 
Master,  who  knows  all,  and  will  lead  us  into  the  light? 
We  must  needs  be  docile.  We  must  believe  in  His 
wisdom  where  we  cannot  understand.  We  must  needs 
be  ready  to  receive  new  light,  and  progress  from  stage 
to  stage,  from  class  to  class.  We  must  keep  the  eye 
single,  the  soul  pure  and  true.  We  must  follow  our 
guide  even  when  He  leads  us  through  dangerous  pas- 
sages— or,  what  is  harder  still — when  in  the  dark  we 
see  Him  not  and  only  hear  His  voice. 

But  if  our  acceptance  of  Him  has  been  sincere,  we 
need  not  fear  the  issue.  He  will  both  protect  and 
develop  us,  until  at  last  we  shall  mount  upon  wings 
as  eagles,  shall  enter  on  that  perfect  life  for  which 
all  here  has  been  a  preparation,  and  shall  do  the 
works,  and  have  the  knowledge,  and  exercise  the 
powers  of  the  glorified  sons  of  God. 


XVIII 

OUT  OF   THE   DEPTHS 

"  Out  of  the  depths  have  I  cried  unto  Thee,  O  Lord." — Psalm  cxxx.  I. 
What  is  more  instinctively  condemned  or  felt  to 
be  more  unworthy  than  a  superficial  life  ?  It  is  a  life 
which,  as  the  word  imports,  is  contented  to  float  on 
the  surface  of  things.  A  superficial  examination  of  a 
subject  is  one  which  does  not  go  to  the  foundations ; 
which  does  not  critically  sift  the  matter  in  hand ; 
which  embraces  in  its  survey  merely  the  most  obvious 
facts  which  none  can  fail  to  see.  Such  an  examination 
is  not  worthy  of  the  name.  A  superficial  character  is 
one  that  is  governed  by  hasty  judgments  and  regard 
for  the  nearest  objects  and  most  immediate  interests ; 
one  that  has  not  felt  the  force  of  permanent  and  radi- 
cal principles,  but  is  content  to  take  its  beliefs  from 
hearsay  and  to  regulate  its  conduct  by  impulse  or 
unreasoning  desire.  And  a  superficial  life  is  the  out- 
come of  such  a  character.  It  either  cannot  or  will 
not  face  the  real  problems  of  existence.  It  does  not 
realize  the  profound  sea  of  mystery  over  which  it  gaily 
voyages,  nor  think  of  the  illimitable  heights  that  are 
above  it.  It  lives,  so  to  speak,  from  hand  to  mouth. 
It  does  not  feel  anything  strongly.     It  is  completely 

323 


324  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

absorbed  in  the  moving  panorama  which  passes  before 
its  eyes,  and  does  not  inquire  concerning  the  hidden 
ropes  and  pulleys  which  make  it  move.  The  play 
and  work  of  each  day  command  its  entire  attention. 
Even  sorrow  does  not  profoundly  agitate  it.  It  lives 
its  little  span  of  life,  in  short,  upon  the  surface  of 
things ;  and,  when  its  span  is  finished,  it  sinks  into  the 
depths  which,  while  living,  it  never  cared  seriously  to 
contemplate. 

I  say,  we  instinctively  condemn  such  a  life  when  it 
is  plainly  presented  to  us.  Yet  we  must  be  aware 
that  multitudes  of  men  and  women  are  living  such 
lives.  The  ease  with  which  many  are  satisfied  with' 
the  most  superficial  idea  of  moral  character  is  shock- 
ing. They  take  human  applause  for  divine  approval, 
and  think  that  if  they  be,  according  to  the  world's 
standards,  kind  and  friendly, — if  they  are  guilty  of  no 
overt  crimes, — they  need  strive  for  nothing  more. 
The  heedless  diligence  with  which  reasonable  but  un- 
reasoning beings  pursue  the  making  of  money  as  if  it 
were  the  supreme  end  of  existence,  and  the  god  on 
whose  smile  their  happiness  depends,  must  seem  to 
the  spirits  that  look  down  upon  us  as  a  boy's  earnest 
sport  seems  to  full-grown  men.  The  recklessness 
with  which  many  make  life  a  play  cannot  but  appall 
those  who  see  the  precipice  on  the  edge  of  which  the 
play  goes   on. 

It  is  not  strange  that  such  people  forget  or  deny  God. 


OUT  OF  THE  DEPTHS  325 

They  do  not  feci  the  need  of  Him.  Within  their  little 
circle  He  has  no  place,  and  the  shallowest  ideas  of 
morals  and  religion  prevail.  Sometimes  this  is  a  willful 
choice  of  the  temporal  instead  of  the  eternal.  Some- 
times it  is  due  to  mere  feebleness  of  character,  to  inabil- 
ity to  do  more  than  float  with  the  current.  In  spite 
of  the  centuries  of  religion,  in  spite  of  an  uneasy  con- 
sciousness of  wrong,  in  spite  of  the  repeated  spectacle 
of  death,  in  spite  of  the  occasional  glances  which  they 
cannot  but  give  downward  and  upward,  experience 
shows  that  it  is  only  too  possible  for  men  and  women 
to  content  themselves  with  living  on  the  surface,  and 
to  refuse  to  grapple  seriously  with  the  hidden  but  ever 
present  realities  of  man's  existence. 

It  is  in  the  light  of  this  that  I  would  read  with 
you  this  verse  of  an  ancient  psalm.  We  have  repre- 
sented in  it  the  exact  opposite  of  a  superficial  life. 
We  see  a  man  who  in  some  way  had  sunk  below  the 
surface,  had  seen  and  felt  things  which  were  not  visible 
on  top,  had  faced  the  profound  facts  which  the  super- 
ficial mind  does  not  even  perceive.  There  he  had 
found  God.  There  he  had  felt  the  need  of  God. 
There  he  had  raised  his  prayer  and  had  received  an 
answer  to  it.  "  Out  of  the  depths,"  he  says,  "  have  I 
cried  unto  Thee,  O  Lord."  And  from  this  deep  ex- 
perience he  had  emerged  with  a  strength  of  faith  and 
a  sense  of  the  moral  realities  of  life  which  he  had  never 
had  before.     I  would  like  to  remind  you  of  the  depths 


326  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

which  we  may  and  often  must  fathom,  and  the  oppor- 
tunities they  afford  for  our  laying  hold  upon  Him 
who  is  the  Light  in  our  darkness  and  the  Rock  beneath 
the  shifting  waves  of  time. 

It  docs  not  really  require  anything  more  than  a 
simple  effort  of  thought  to  enable  us  to  sink  below 
the  surface  and  find  ourselves  in  what  may  be  truly 
called  "  the  depths."  A  superficial  life,  if  it  thinks 
at  all,  knows  itself  to  be  superficial ;  for  the  simplest 
questions  raised  by  the  mind  carry  it  into  the  realm 
of  profound  things.  We  have  only  to  ask  ourselves 
whence  came  we  here,  why  are  we  here,  whence  came 
the  world  about  us,  why  does  it  exist  at  all,  in  order 
to  discover  ourselves  in  the  immediate  presence  of  the 
very  mystery  of  life,  and  oppressed  by  the  necessity 
of  going  below  the  surface  to  find  an  explanation  of  it. 
These  questions  no  man  can  help  asking.  They  are 
not  curious  speculations.  They  are  inevitably  raised 
by  the  facts  of  daily  experience.  Only  by  shutting 
the  mind's  eye  and  deliberately  remaining  blind  can 
we  prevent  their  being  forced  upon  us. 

Thus  it  is  a  natural  thing  to  ask  whence  we  came. 
We  cannot  help  assuming  that  everything  in  the 
world  has  had  a  cause.  We  can  see  the  beginnings 
of  most  things,  and  we  have  never  known  anything  to 
come  into  existence  of  itself.  We  cannot  conceive, 
indeed,  of  such  a  thing.  For  ourselves,  we  know 
that  we  began  to  be ;  and,  thus,  the  moment  we  begin 


OUT  OF  THE  DEPTHS  327 

to  think  we  find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  the  neces- 
sity of  accounting  for  the  orign  of  the  world  and  of 
ourselves  as  part  of  it.  We  are  very  sure,  too,  that 
the  cause,  whatever  it  is,  must  have  been  competent 
to  produce  the  effect.  We  cannot  suppose  that  a 
plant  is  produced  by  the  soil  out  of  which  it  grows ; 
for  the  plant  is  a  living  thing,  while  the  soil  is  not. 
So  we  cannot  believe  that  the  human  mind  has  been 
produced  by  a  chance  collection  of  particles  of  matter ; 
for  the  mind  thinks,  and  matter  does  not  think.  Thus 
by  a  very  few  steps  we  go  below  the  surface,  and 
realize  that  we  and  the  world  must  be  the  product  of 
something  or  some  person  greater  than  we  or  it ;  that 
there  must  be  some  invisible  Being  back  of  the  visible 
panorama ;  and  that,  in  all  probability,  our  relations  to 
this  Being,  who  must  be  the  Cause  of  all,  are  far  more 
important  than  are  our  relations  to  the  visible  people 
and  things  which  we  meet  upon  the  surface. 

Then,  if  we  go  a  little  farther  down,  and  ask  our- 
selves why  we  are,  the  mystery  of  life  instantly  grows 
even  more  profound.  For  man  feels  himself  to  be 
at  once  very  little  and  very  great.  He  is  very  little 
in  comparison  with  the  immense  universe — a  mere 
drop  in  the  ocean  of  being — a  mere  atom  in  a  meas- 
ureless world  of  existence.  He  is  physically  very 
weak.  His  present  life  hangs  upon  a  mere  thread. 
He  comes  up  like  a  flower  and  is  cut  down.  In  the 
morning  it  flourishes  and  grows  up ;   in   the  evening 


328  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

it  is  cut  down  and  withers.  His  life  is  as  a  vapor, 
which  appears  for  a  little  while,  and  then  vanishes 
away.  Yet  he  is  very  great.  He  knows  himself, 
which  is  more  than  even  the  mighty  world  about  him 
does.  He  reasons.  He  can  with  his  feeble  hand 
chain  the  lightning  and  defy  the  storm.  He  can 
harness  the  forces  of  nature  and  drive  them  with  his 
childish  hands.  He  can  rise  to  the  idea  of  God ;  can 
know  and  love  Him ;  and,  despite  his  physical  weak- 
ness, can  be  unconquerable  in  soul.  As  Pascal  said, 
"  He  is  a  reed,  the  weakest  thing  in  nature,  but  he  is  a 
reed  that  thinks."  Although  in  one  view  he  is  utterly 
insignificant,  in  another  view  he  is  supremely  great. 
When  we  look  at  these  facts,  the  question,  Why  are 
we  here?  attains  profound  importance.  A  superficial 
answer  is  at  once  felt  to  be  false.  If  at  one  moment 
we  are  inclined  to  say  that  it  does  not  make  much  dif- 
ference what  we  are  or  what  we  do ;  at  another 
moment  we  feel  that,  with  such  power  and  capacities, 
we  must  be  working  out  a  sublime  programme  ;  must 
be  only  making  preparation  here  for  a  higher  condi- 
tion ;  must  be  meant  for  some  purpose  commensurate 
with  the  dignity  of  the  soul. 

Thus,  you  see,  it  requires  but  the  slightest  effort 
of  thought  to  lead  us  into  the  depths ;  to  make 
a  superficial  life  appear  absurdly  irrational  ;  to  make 
us  realize  that  unless  we  seek  to  give  some  answer  to 
these  primary  questions  which  are   forced   upon   the 


OUT  OF   THE  DEPTHS  329 

mind,  we  are  guilty  of  deliberate  recklessness.  I  do 
not  know  how  often  or  how  seriously  these  questions 
have  come  home  to  you.  Possibly  they  may  seem  to 
you  useless  speculations,  and  you  may  have  banished 
them  by  turning  to  what  you  call  the  practical  duties 
of  life.  Possibly  you  may  have  taken  shelter  under  the 
convenient  plea  that  we  cannot  know  anything  about 
ulterior  facts  or  immaterial  causes;  and  may  have 
for  a  while  complacently  dismissed  the  matter  from 
your  thought.  But  if  so,  you  must,  at  least,  confess 
that  you  are  living  on  the  surface,  and  that  the  fathom- 
less depths  are  under  you.  Beyond  doubt  your  care- 
lessness or  your  agnosticism  can  last  only  for  a  time. 
Into  the  depths  you  must  sink,  if  not  now  by  thought, 
hereafter  by  death ;  and  it  surely  is  not  becoming  a 
rational  being  to  refuse  to  face  the  questions  which 
are  thus  forced  upon  his  mind  by  the  simplest  action 
of  his  reason. 

These  inquiries  are  of  almost  oppressive  magnitude. 
A  man  may  dull  his  sense  of  them  by  absorption  in 
work  or  pleasure,  but  I  do  not  understand  how  any- 
body can  fail  to  see  that  such  dullness  is  the  natural 
result  of  a  mental  anaesthetic.  A  man  may  find  serious 
and  real  difficulties  in  the  subject  of  religion  ;  but  I  do 
not  see  how  he  can  fail  to  find  greater  difficulties  in 
any  life  which  does  not  seriously  attack  these  funda- 
mental questions.  It  also  seems  certain  that  in  these 
depths  of  mystery,  into  which  the  simplest  thought 


33o  Kirn i  and  life 

takes  us,  the  most  reasonable  thing  is  to  call  upon 
God.  Docs  not  He  present  that  solution  of  the  mys- 
tery of  human  life  which,  taking  it  all  in  all,  is  the 
most  satisfactory  to  the  mind  itself?  The  agnostic  says 
there  is  no  solution  possible,  and  he  says  this  because 
not  everything  is  clear  and  plain  :  somewhat  as  a  child 
who,  because  he  cannot  get  all  he  wants,  says  he  will 
take  nothing.  The  materialist  says  all  is  the  blind  re- 
sult of  physical  force  acting  mechanically;  and  hence 
he  must  conclude  that  the  seeming  greatness  of  man 
is  a  delusion,  and  that  as  he  came  by  chance  into 
existence,  he  will  vanish  after  a  while  into  dust.  But 
does  not  this  answer  raise  more  difficulties  than  ever, 
and  make  larger  demands  on  our  credulity  than  ever 
religion  did  ?  We  have  about  as  much  reason  to 
think  that  life  and  mind  came  out  of  matter  as  we 
have  to  suppose  that  two  and  two  ever  made  five. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  belief  in  God  provides  at 
least  a  rational,  thinkable  explanation.  It  provides  a 
cause  adequate  to  produce  the  effects  with  which  we 
are  concerned.  It  supplies  an  origin  for  the  mind  of 
man,  which  accounts  for  his  powers  and  gives  hopes 
to  his  heart ;  explaining  both  his  littleness  and  his 
greatness.  I  do  not  say  that  faith  in  God  explains 
everything  to  us.  But  is  it  not,  to  say  the  least,  the 
most  probable  explanation  ?  Docs  it  not  throw  more 
light  on  life  than  any  other  theory?  It  is  most  reason- 
able out  of  these  depths  to  call  upon  him — nothing  else 


OUT  OF   THE  DEPTHS  33  I 

can  satisfy.  Nothing  else  can  help  us.  The  superficial 
life  which  forgets  God  seems  utterly  false  and  futile 
when  a  man  begins  to  think  about  life.  For  when  the 
real,  underlying  problems  arc  felt,  the  supreme  neces- 
sity for  Him  is  felt ;  and  in  some  way  nearly  every 
man  calls  upon  Him. 

But  for  one  man  who  sounds  the  depths  of  life  by 
an  effort  of  thought,  a  dozen  sound  them  through 
the  experience  of  sorrow  and  disappointment.  Jesus 
said :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn :  for  they  shall 
be  comforted."  Whatever  else  the  words  may  mean, 
they  imply  at  least  that  there  is  more  blessedness 
in  being  comforted  than  in  not  mourning  at  all.  Yet, 
certainly,  He  did  not  regard  sorrow  and  trouble  as 
good  in  themselves.  He  came  to  relieve  and  end 
them.  He  came  to  bring  peace  and  rest  to  earth. 
Nevertheless,  He  knew  that,  as  men  are,  the  deepest 
lessons  of  life  will  not  be  learned  except  through  a 
more  or  less  bitter  experience,  and  that  the  sweetest 
joys  and  the  highest  truths  will  come  to  humanity 
only  through  the  sad  instructress,  sorrow. 

We  know  only  too  well  that  a  happy,  pros- 
perous, successful  life  is  apt  to  become  super- 
ficial. Let  there  be  no  disappointments  to  speak 
of;  let  there  be  for  many  years  no  great  bereave- 
ment ;  let  there  be  no  hard  struggle  for  bread  or  for 
pleasure;  and  man  is  apt  to  miss  entirely  the  chief 
ends   of  life's  discipline.     His    course  will  "  run  glit- 


332  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

tering  like  a  brook  in  the  open  sunshine," — bright, 
but  shallow ;  pretty,  but  not  deep.  He  is  likely  to 
have  but  little  sympathy ;  for  we  must  know  somewhat 
of  the  ills  of  life  in  order  to  help  others  through  them. 
He  is  likely  even  to  become  hard  in  his  judgments, 
skeptical  in  his  opinions.  Men  talk  of  gratitude  for 
blessings  as  a  stimulus  to  faith,  but  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  trials  and  crosses  do  not  furnish  a  greater 
stimulus.  The  happy  life  is  apt  to  be  a  careless  one. 
Supplies  that  come  easily  awaken  no  great  sense  of 
gratitude.  Were  we  to  imagine  all  the  sorrows  ban- 
ished from  man's  experience,  all  trials  prevented,  all 
disappointments  forestalled,  and  man  left  at  the  same 
time  in  the  same  moral  condition  in  which  he  now  is, 
we  should  see  a  world  forgetful  of  spiritual  things, 
heedless  of  divine  realities  and  moral  responsibilities  ; 
a  world  of  singing  birds  and  gorgeous  butterflies, 
but  not  a  world  of  either  great  thought  or  lofty 
aspiration. 

Freedom  from  sorrow  is  promised  us  in  heaven 
only  on  the  assumption  that  there  we  shall  be  holy 
enough  not  to  need  it.  Tears  shall  there  be  wiped 
from  all  faces  because  the  moral  necessity  for  tears 
shall  have  been  overcome.  Happiness  in  external 
things  shall  be  attained  because  the  internal  conditions 
of  it  have  been  first  possessed.  But  as  man  now  is, 
it  does  not  take  much  observation  to  see  that  entire 
freedom  from  trouble  would  tend  only  to  make  him 


OUT  OF  THE  DEPTHS  333 

satisfied   with   the   superficial   life   of  a   well-fed  body 
and  a  cultivated  mind. 

So  Providence  does  not  permit  us  to  live  such 
lives.  Again  and  again  are  we  compelled  to  go 
down  into  the  depths.  The  crust  breaks.  The 
pleasant,  easy  life  is  rudely  interrupted,  and  man 
sinks,  burdened  by  a  weight  of  woe,  into  the  abyss 
below  him.  Then  his  views  of  life  change.  In  the 
bitterness  of  disappointment  over  the  failure  of  his 
dearest  hopes  he  feels  the  vanity  of  the  common  pur- 
suits which  the  world  is  so  earnestly  following.  He 
understands,  if  ever,  that  the  real  end  of  life  cannot 
consist  in  the  enjoyment  of  earthly  gains;  he  realizes 
that  if  satisfaction  is  ever  to  be  found,  it  must  spring 
from  causes  lying  deeper  far  than  the  relationships 
which  this  world  provides.  Keen  sorrow  enters  his 
home,  and  under  the  blight  of  loss  his  heart  seems  to 
be  swallowed  up  by  grief.  He  wonders  why  tender 
affection  should  be  created  to  be  thus  rudely  broken ; 
why  he  should  be  made  the  apparent  sport  of  misfor- 
tune and  calamity.  These  are  depths  which  all  have 
to  fathom.  The  experience  comes  in  different  forms, 
but  it  comes  to  all.  Oh,  the  depths  of  pain  and  an- 
guish over  which  in  prosperous  days  we  glide !  Oh, 
the  terrible  convulsions  of  grief,  of  which  we  are 
capable,  into  which  we  may  be  plunged ;  the  deep, 
dark  passages  of  life  which  make  a  mockery  of  the 
work  and  play  which  proceed  on  the  upper  surface ! 


334  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

Blessed,  indeed,  is  he  who  can  wrest  from  these 
grievous  hours  a  divine  lesson,  so  finding  in  them  a 
balm  as  well  as  a  calamity,  and  good  even  amid  the 
evil. 

This,  at  least,  is  clear — that  in  the  depths  of  sor- 
row men  always  feel  the  need  of  God,  even  if  they 
do  not  love  Him  or  submit  to  Him.  Sorrow,  of 
course,  affects  men  differently,  just  as  the  same  warm 
sunlight  falling  on  a  plant  with  little  root  will  wither 
it,  but  falling  on  another  plant,  whose  roots  run  deeply 
into  the  rich  soil  beneath  it,  will  cause  it  to  flourish  and 
be  beautiful  with  bloom.  So  some  men  are  crushed 
and  hardened  by  their  troubles  ;  others  are  sanctified 
and  blessed,  according  as  the  life  is  or  is  not  strong 
with  faith  and  the  desire  for  spiritual  attainment.  But 
this  is  true  of  all — whatever  the  effects  may  be — that 
in  the  depth  of  the  dark,  gloomy  passages  of  life  all 
feel  the  need  of  God.  The  rebellious  sufferer  cries 
out  for  God  to  set  things  right.  The  patient  sufferer 
no  less  feels  his  need  of  help,  and  looks  for  it  to  come. 
But  all  feel  the.  same  need.  The  impotence  of  man  is 
now  manifest.  The  dependence  of  the  human  spirit 
on  something  greater  than  itself  or  than  the  world  is 
plain.  The  vanity  of  the  superficial  life,  with  its  lying 
promises,  its  fading  beauty,  its  broken  pledges,  its 
mockery  of  strength,  appears  as  a  thin,  unsubstantial 
fact.      The  need  of  God  becomes  imperative. 

See  now  what  human  life  is,  how  utterly  lost  and 


OUT  OF  THE  DEPTHS  335 

undone  if  there  be  no  mighty  Helper,  no  loving  Father, 
no  pitying  Christ.  Down  in  the  depths  the  suffering 
soul  instinctively  reaches  out  its  hands,  even  though 
manacled  by  doubt — instinctively  raises  its  voice,  even 
though  bitter  with  rebellion — for  God,  for  nothing  less 
than  God,  for  God  as  the  only  One  sufficient  for  the 
awful  needs  of  the  lonely,  failing  heart.  Such  depths 
are  places  of  revelation.  They  show  what  even  the 
common  superficial  life  needs,  though  it  may  not  be 
aware  of  it.  They  bid  us  know  our  real  Helper,  that 
when  we  rise  again  to  the  common  level  we  may  not 
forget  the  supreme  lesson  taught  us  by  this  glimpse, 
through  tears,  into  the  tremendous  realities  of  life. 
Woe  to  that  man  who  in  prosperous  times  forgets  the 
lesson.  If  out  of  the  depths  you  have  called  upon 
God,  then  remember  Him  and  honor  Him  when  on 
the  mountain  top  and  in  the  clear  sunshine.  You 
need  Him  then  just  as  much.  Your  sorrow  was  but 
the  means  of  showing  you  what  common  life  should 
always  bear  in  mind,  for  He  who  appears  as  man's  only 
refuge  and  strength  in  times  of  trouble  is  not  less  his 
lawful  Lord,  his  profoundest  need,  at  every  moment 
and  in  every  circumstance  of  life. 

While  thought  and  sorrow  thus  let  men  down  into 
the  depths  of  life,  and  show  them  their  need  of  God, 
yet  neither  of  these  appears  to  explain  the  particular 
experience  of  the  Psalmist  when  he  cried,  "  Out  of  the 
depths  have  I  cried  unto  thee,  O  Lord."     That  which 


336  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

had  broken  through  the  crust  of  a  superficial  life  in  his 
case  was  conviction  of  sin.  This  is  plain  from  the  fol- 
lowing language  of  the  Psalmist ;  for  he  adds,  "  If 
thou,  Lord,  shouldest  mark  iniquities,  O  Lord,  who 
shall  stand  ?  But  there  is  forgiveness  with  Thee,  that 
Thou  mayest  be  feared."  His  conscience  had  been 
awakened.  He  had  realized  the  enormity  of  sin.  His 
accuser  had  stood  before  him,  charging  him  with 
faults  enough  to  condemn  him  forever.  He  had  seen 
that  he  was  full  of  sin,  burdened  with  guilt,  in  immi- 
nent danger  of  punishment.  He  sank  into  the  depths, 
overwhelmed  by  fear,  beholding  the  justice  of  God 
and  His  power  to  inflict  penalty,  swallowed  up  in 
despair  and  the  conciousness  of  guilt.  Now  the  pleas- 
ant life  of  the  eveiy  day  world  seemed  a  mockery 
indeed.  It  appeared  to  be  the  laughter  of  a  criminal 
awaiting  execution,  the  blind  and  foolish  play  of  men 
hastening  to  death,  the  impious  sport  carried  on  under 
the  shadow  of  the  overhanging  sword.  The  soul  had 
awakened  to  a  sense  of  what  sin  is — of  what  it  means 
to  the  sinner  and  to  God — and  in  the  depth  of  this 
conviction  it  cried  for  the  One  who  alone  can  forgive 
and  save. 

This  shows  us  a  depth  over  which  the  super- 
ficial life  is  always  passing — which  it  often  will  not 
believe  in — but  which  when  entered  discloses  more 
vividly  the  moral  reality  of  things  than  even  thought 
or  sorrow  does.     How  insensible  men  are  to  the  real 


OUT  OF  THE  DEPTHS  337 

significance  of  sin !  They  admit  that  there  is  sin  in 
the  world,  for  they  cannot  shut  their  eyes  to  the  fact. 
They  admit  that  they  are  faulty  ;  for  their  failure  to 
fulfil  all  their  human  duty  is  so  patent  that  the  most 
delusive  theories  and  the  most  pleasant  dreams  cannot 
altogether  deceive  them.  But  the  superficial  life  does 
not  see  the  significance  of  sin.  It  treats  sin  as  a  venial 
fault — some  defect  of  blood  or  some  disease — which  has 
even  an  attractive  as  well  as  a  disagreeable  side.  For 
the  most  part  it  quite  condones  it.  It  does  not  allow 
it  to  cause  discomfort.  It  does  not  allow  sin  to  lessen 
its  enjoyment  of  nature,  its  delight  in  society,  its  ma- 
terial pleasures,  its  pursuit  of  ambitious  schemes.  So 
the  shallow  world  hastens  on  in  its  selfish  career,  quite 
unmindful  of  what  the  occasional  stings  of  conscience 
mean,  what  its  uneasy  dread  of  death  forebodes. 

But  let  the  crust  break,  let  the  conscience  awaken, 
let  the  living  soul,  laden  with  its  guilt,  go  down 
into  the  depths  of  an  aroused  moral  conviction. 
What  then  does  it  behold  ?  It  sees  itself  under 
sentence  by  the  Almighty  !  Sin  is  transgression  of 
His  law.  It  is  hideous  in  itself  and  hateful  in  His 
sight.  It  now  is  seen  to  have  infected  the  whole  life ; 
to  have  shut  God  out  of  our  thought,  to  have 
alienated  us  from  our  true  Master,  exiled  us  from  our 
true  home.  It  is  seen  to  contain  in  itself  the  power 
of  endless  death,  to  be  a  relentless  tyrant  inflicting  the 

penalty  of  eternal  justice  on  the  sinner,  to  be  leading 
22 


33S  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

its  victims  to  the  woes  and  the  misery  of  hell  itself. 
What  an  awakening !  What  a  spectacle !  Yet  it  is 
most  real.  It  is  a  revelation  of  truth.  It  shows  in 
truest  form  the  moral  reality  of  things,  and  when  a 
man  finds  himself  in  the  power  of  sin,  knows  that  it 
has  seized  and  bewitched  him,  and  beholds  what  God 
must  think  of  his  condition,  and  how,  of  necessity, 
He  must  condemn  him,  he  has  sounded  the  depths 
indeed. 

Then  must  he  call  upon  God  alone.  Then  he  sees 
that  no  one  can  save  him  but  God.  He  feels  as  never 
before  his  need  of  salvation.  He  asks  only  for  for- 
giveness. His  sins  roll  over  his  memory  like  great 
ocean  billows.  Every  evil  deed  points  its  finger  of 
condemnation  at  him.  Whither  shall  he  flee  but  to 
God  himself?  Blessed  it  is  to  hear  in  the  depths  of 
an  awakened  conscience  the  voice  of  one  who  speaks 
to  men  in  such  a  state  with  the  authority  of  God,  and 
says,  "There  is  forgiveness  with  Thee,  that  Thou 
mayest  be  feared."  Ay,  there  is  forgiveness  !  It  was 
these  sins  for  which  God's  Son  offered  sacrifice  at 
Calvary.  It  was  these  accusing  voices  which  He  pro- 
posed to  hush  when  the  Redeemer  cried,  "  Father  for- 
give them."  The  love  of  God  gleams  out  in  Jesus 
Christ  like  the  sun  through  the  darkness,  reaching 
down  even  to  the  depths  in  which  conviction  plunges 
a  man  ;  and  whispers  in  his  ear,  "  Though  your  sins 
be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow."      Out  of 


OUT  OF  THE   DEPTHS  339 

such  an  experience  a  man  learns  what  God  and  Christ 
are  with  a  distinctness  which  no  other  instruction  can 
possibly  impart. 

I  ask  you  if  you  have  sounded  the  depths  of  life 
in  any  of  these  ways  ?  Much  of  our  lives  must  be 
passed  upon  the  surface,  but  I  adjure  you  not  to  forget 
the  depths  below  and  their  revelations.  Do  not  be 
deceived  by  the  temporal  and  the  visible.  In  your 
hearts  you  know  that  need  of  God  which  is  disclosed 
by  the  profound  moments  of  thought  and  sorrow; 
and  conscience  discovers  the  reality — that  by  which 
you  must  live — that  which  you  will  have  to  face.  Be 
guided  then  by  these  discoveries.  If  in  the  depths 
you  have  cried  unto  the  Lord,  then  in  every  day  life 
make  Him  your  God,  your  Master,  your  Saviour.  I 
plead  for  this,  knowing  that  however  for  a  while  the 
deceiving  superficial  life  may  continue,  in  the  end  you 
must  deal  with  the  unseen  realities.  I  plead  for  a  real 
faith,  for  true  contrition  and  confession,  for  self  dedi- 
cation unto  God.  Will  you  not  heed  the  pleading, 
that '  when  you  sink  into  the  depths  you  may  find 
God  merciful,  forgiving,  faithful,  and  true,  waiting  to 
sustain,  to  receive,  to  save  you  ?  He  is  your  need, 
your  supreme  need.  I  beseech  you,  in  Christ's  name, 
be  ye  reconciled  to  Him. 


XIX 

MANY   MANSIONS 

"  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions:  if  it  were  not  so,  I  would 
have  told  you.     I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you." — John  xiv.  2. 

The  disciples  of  Jesus  were  utterly  dazed  by  the 
thought  of  His  departure  from  them  ;  or,  if  they  had 
not  yet  realized  that  He  was  really  going  away,  He 
knew  that  they  would  be  dazed  when  the  event  took 
place.  Separation  from  the  Master  seemed  to  them 
the  destruction  of  all  that  had  made  life  worth  living. 
It  left  them  exposed  to  the  hatred  of  the  world,  with- 
out the  protection  which  Christ's  power  and  personal 
presence  had  always  afforded.  It  left  them  to  do  a 
work  which  even  He,  in  their  view,  had  not  yet 
succeeded  in  doing.  It  left  them  bewildered  by  the 
apparent  triumph  of  His  enemies.  It  left  them  lonely 
for  the  want  of  His  dear  companionship ;  helpless  for 
the  want  of  His  never-failing  power ;  ignorant,  fearful, 
and  doubting.  So  long  as  they  knew  Him  to  be  with 
them,  they  could  safely  and  confidently  go  forward ; 
but,  separated  from  Him,  they  were  likely  to  be  lost 
in  a  maze  of  doubt  and  fear.  They  could  at  least 
appreciate  the  truth  of  what  He  said,  "  Apart  from  Me 
ye  can  do  nothing."    We  cannot  better  grasp  the  won- 

341 


342  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

dcrful  superiority  of  Jesus  to  His  age  and  His  fellow- 
men  than  by  considering  the  fact  that  even  those  who 
were  nearest  to  Him,  and  whom  He  had  taught  the 
longest,  felt  themselves  helpless  when  He  left  them. 

These  words  which  Jesus  spoke  to  comfort  and 
encourage  His  disciples  have  become  of  supreme 
worth  and  joy  to  all  believers  ever  since.  For  we  all 
have  to  face  substantially  the  same  crisis  in  which 
the  first  disciples  found  themselves.  Humanity  is 
dazed  and  bewildered  by  the  universal  fact  of  death, 
whether  we  think  of  it  as  threatening  ourselves  or 
those  we  love.  Men  start  on  grand  careers  only  to 
find  them  leading  to  the  inevitable  prison-house.  Men 
enter  upon  sweet  and  ennobling  relationships  only  to 
find  them  rudely  dissolved  by  the  inexorable  hand. 
The  best  plans  are  thwarted  by  it ;  the  noblest  lives 
are  overcome  by  it ;  the  most  useful  servants  of  God 
and  humanity  are  remorselessly  and  often,  to  our 
mind,  inopportunely  cut  down.  Hence  these  disciples 
of  Jesus,  cowering  under  the  shadow  of  the  coming 
tragedy,  were  types  of  all  mankind,  and  the  words  of 
Christ  to  them  are  of  equal  value  to  us.  He  alone 
saw  beyond  the  shadow.  He  alone  knew  both  worlds, 
— the  one  beyond  the  veil  and  this.  At  no  time  did 
He  speak  with  more  imperial  dignity, — more  obviously 
with  the  knowledge  of  divinity  itself, — than  when  He 
forgot  His  own  impending  sorrow  in  commiseration  of 
theirs,  and  told  them  what,  from  His  loftier  position, 


MANY  MANSIONS  343 

He  could  see.  As  one  standing  on  a  mountain  summit 
may  describe  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  below  the 
glorious  landscape  which  he  beholds,  and  in  the  wealth 
and  beauty  of  which  both  are  to  share,  so  did  Jesus 
speak  to  us  these  memorable  words  of  comfort  and 
cheer. 

Let  me  examine  with  you,  then,  these  words  of 
Christ  simply  with  the  purpose  of  setting  forth  as 
much  as  possible  of  what  they  contain. 

In  my  Father's  house,  He  said,  are  many  man- 
sions, or  places  of  abode.  He  had  just  said:  "Let 
not  your  heart  be  troubled :  ye  believe  in  God,  be- 
lieve also  in  Me  " ;  and  then  He  added  this  in  order, 
it  would  seem,  to  give  His  disciples  a  definite  and 
tangible  object  on  which  to  fix  their  hope,  without 
which  faith  could  not  exist  at  all.  It  appears  to  me, 
however,  that  these  words  have  been  often  misunder- 
stood. Evidently,  the  emphatic  word  in  the  sentence 
is  "  many."  But  if  so,  and  if,  as  on  the  common 
view,  the  Father's  house  be  understood  to  refer  to 
heaven  alone,  it  is  difficult  to  see  the  appropriateness 
of  the  words  to  the  disciples'  needs.  The  fact  that  in 
heaven  there  are  many  places  of  abode,  many  homes 
for  many  people,  many  grades  of  glory  for  many 
kinds  of  saints,  is  doubtless  true.  But  how  this  could 
comfort  the  disciples  in  view  of  Christ's  departure 
does  not  so  easily  appear.  What  would  comfort  them 
would  be  the  clear  revelation  of  the  other  world  itself 


344  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

and  of  Christ's  continued  relationship  to  them,  though 
gone  into  that  other  world;  and  this  we  may  judge, 
from  all  the  connected  verses,  was  the  truth  which 
He  sought  to  impress  upon  their  minds. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  by  His  Father's  house 
Jesus  did  not  mean  merely  the  future  abode  of  the 
blest.  Give  the  phrase  a  larger  meaning,  and  the  force 
of  His  comfort  will  be  more  plain.  He  had  called  the 
temple,  you  remember,  His  Father's  house,  saying 
to  the  tradesmen  whom  He  drove  from  its  sacred 
precincts,  "  Make  not  My  Father's  house  a  house  of 
merchandise."  What  more  natural,  then,  than  for  Him 
to  regard  the  whole  universe  itself,  of  which,  in  one 
sense,  the  temple  was  a  type,  as  His  Father's  house  ? 
Such,  in  fact,  it  is.  God  no  more  dwells  merely  in 
the  heaven  of  heavens  than  in  temples  made  by  hands. 
The  whole  universe  is  filled  with  His  presence,  and 
has  been  created  by  Him  to  be  the  place  where  His 
children  shall  dwell  in  companionship  with  Himself. 
Jesus,  though  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  was  at 
home  in  the  world  with  God.  Did  He  not  evince  the 
greatest  familiarity  with  nature,  gathering  from  her 
processes  His  illustrations  of  divine  things  ?  He  had 
no  quarrel  with  nature  or  with  matter.  He  had  a  quar- 
rel only  with  sin.  The  universe  was  still  His  Father's 
house.  He  implied  as  much  when  He  told  the 
Samaritan  woman  that  no  place  was  more  sacred 
than  another,  but  that  in  all  alike  the  true  worshiper 


MANY  MANSIONS  345 

would  be  accepted.  Hence,  in  His  intercourse  with 
His  disciples,  He  had  brought  heaven  down  to  earth, 
and  they  had  found  in  their  relationship  with  Him 
that  which  made  life  seem  worthy  of  everlasting  con- 
tinuance. 

Thus  I  understand  that  the  Lord  meant  by  His 
"  Father's  house  "  the  whole  vast  universe ;  and  if  so, 
the  point  of  His  comfort  to  the  disciples  becomes  clear. 
"  In  my  Father's  house,  He  said,  are  many  mansions." 
Do  not  suppose  that  this  world  is  all,  or  that  beyond 
the  veil,  even  the  blessedness  and  joy  of  this  world 
will  not  be  surpassed.  You  have  found  a  home  here. 
You  have  found  God  here.  You  have  here  learned 
that  it  is  possible  to  dwell  with  God.  But  this  is 
only  one  mansion  and  there  are  many  more.  You 
have  entered  only  the  first.  There  are  myriads  that 
you  have  not  seen.  Do  not,  therefore,  tremble  if  I 
leave  you.  This  world  is  not  the  whole  of  the  stage 
on  which  redemption  is  to  be  wrought  out.  Do  not 
think  that  death  is  dissolution  to  the  soul,  or  that  its 
personal  and  spiritual  relationship  to  God  will  be 
affected  by  death.  If  such  had  been  the  case  I  would 
certainly  have  told  you,  and  my  course  of  instruction 
would  have  been  very  different.  This  world  is  but 
one  place  of  abode  with  God.  There  are  innumerably 
more,  and  only  with  these  in  thought  can  you  realize 
the  worth  and  promise  of  a  Christian  life. 

No  doubt  the  false  astronomy  of  that  day  made  it 


346  FAITH  AND    LIFE 

somewhat  more  difficult  for  the  disciples  than  for  us  to 
grasp  the  scope  of  the  Saviour's  words.  At  any  rate, 
with  our  clearer  knowledge  of  the  physical  universe 
fresh  force  is  given  to  His  language.  We  know  that 
ours  is  but  one  of  countless  worlds,  that  the  Father's 
house  contains  mansions  upon  mansions,  in  tiers  in- 
numerable :  and  with  every  increase  of  power  in  the 
lenses  of  our  telescopes,  the  bounds  of  God's  great 
temple  have  been  placed  further  off.  It  is  quite  possible 
too  that  even  within  the  space  occupied  by  the  visible 
universe  another  exists,  and  that  the  veil  of  gross 
matter  hides  from  our  knowledge  a  world  into  which 
only  the  released  spirit  finds  admission.  We  are  in 
a  universe  of  mystery,  into  which  both  faith  and  science 
peer  with  equal  right  and  with  equal  profit,  and  while 
neither  faith  nor  science  can  claim  to  know  more  than 
"  but  in  part,"  both  testify,  in  confirmation  of  Christ's 
words,  that  our  present  abiding  place  is  but  the  vesti- 
bule of  a  world  the  vastness  and  the  possibilities  of 
which  are  beyond  our  power  to  imagine. 

Thus  He  who  had  come  down  from  heaven  and  had 
brought  heaven  with  Him  to  the  earth;  He  who  re- 
membered the  glory  which  He  had  had  with  the 
Father  before  the  world  was ;  He  who  had  manifested 
God's  glory  on  earth  to  the  men  who  had  been  given 
Him  out  of  the  world, — pointed  His  disciples  to  the 
vast  universe  of  being  which  they  could  not  see,  but 
which  He  could  see,  and  bade  them  believe  that  the 


MANY  MANSIONS  347 

happy  life  which  they  had  begun  with  Him  on  earth 
would  reach  beyond  death  and  separation,  and  find  its 
increasing  fruition  in  other  realms,  which  will  be  but 
other  apartments  in  our  heavenly  Father's  house. 

I  beg  you  to  notice,  before  we  pass  on,  what  direction 
these  words  of  Christ  give  to  our  thoughts  of  both 
life  and  death.  On  the  one  hand,  He  did  not  under- 
value the  life  in  this  world.  Men  who  think  much 
of  the  future  are  apt  to  undervalue  the  present.  Some 
fancy  that  the  present  is  wholly  evil  and  that  no  en- 
joyment is  to  be  properly  found  here.  But  Christ  did 
not  so  think  or  teach.  He  assured  us  that  this  world 
is  one  of  the  mansions  in  our  Father's  house,  and 
that  it  is  possible  to  enjoy  here  true  pleasure  and 
real  divine  companionship.  A  little  later  He  said : 
"  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words :  and  my 
Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him,  and 
make  our  abode  with  him."  So  He  said,  "  Abide  in 
me,  and  I  in  you."  Thus  earth  may  be  a  mansion  of 
God  if  we  abide  with  Him  and  He  with  us.  It  is 
what  we  make  it.  To  the  prodigal  it  is  a  far  country, 
because  his  heart  is  far  from  God.  To  the  Christian 
it  is  part  of  the  Father's  house,  because  he  dwells 
with  God.  In  a  supreme  sense  did  Jesus  abide  with 
God,  and,  therefore,  in  spite  of  all  that  He  suffered, 
He  could  still  call  it  His  Father's  house.  Thus  by 
faith  we  may  enter  heaven  even  here,  and  in  our  fellow- 
ship with  God  enjoy  the  thought  that  we  are  part  of 


348  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

His  household,  have  a  right  to  His  provisions,  and 
are  secure  in  His  dwelling.  It  will  make  life  happier 
and  more  peaceful,  it  will  give  to  the  world  a  holier 
beauty,  if  we  live  in  it  as  in  our  Father's  house. 

Then,  on  the  other  hand,  mark  how  Jesus  thought 
of  death  and  the  hereafter.  He  carried  over  into  the 
hidden  world  the  natural  instincts  which  have  been 
here  sanctified  in  Christian  life.  Men  thought  of  it 
then,  as  often  they  do  now,  as  cheerless  and  phantom- 
like. He  thought  of  it  as  not  losing  one  jot  of  the 
sweetness  and  joy  of  the  present,  but  divested  of  every 
trace  of  present  sorrow  and  pain.  It  is  still  our 
Father's  house.  There,  too,  are  places  of  abode  for 
us.  It  will  be  as  truly  home  as  any  place  we  have 
ever  known.  It  will  realize  all  that  we  now  hope 
for.  In  it  will  culminate  the  best  part  of  life,  while 
there  will  be  no  drawbacks.  Death  is  but  the  pas- 
sage from  the  lower  to  the  higher  mansion.  By  it  we 
lose  nothing  and  gain  much.  It  makes  no  rupture  in 
the  life  of  the  soul.  The  believer  is  still  in  his 
Father's  house,  only  taken  to  another  apartment.  All 
that  is  now  good  will  be  made  better ;  and  all  that 
is  now  evil  will  be  removed,  as  through  the  heavy  cur- 
tains which  divide  this  abode  from  those  beyond  it,  the 
disciple  of  Jesus  goes.  Not  as  pointing  us  from  what 
is  bad  to  what  is  good ;  but  as  pointing  us  from  what 
is  good  to  what  is  better,  from  partial  knowledge  and 
incipient  holiness  and  the  beginning  of  peace  to  com- 


MANY  MANSIONS  349 

pleteness  of  life  and  to  fullness  of  blessing,  did  Jesus 
stand  on  the  verge  of  His  own  departure  and  bid  us 
have  no  fear,  but  rather  have  hope  and  eager  confi- 
dence. "  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions." 
So  far  from  this  life  exhausting  good,  it  is  but  the  com- 
mencement and  the  foretaste  of  greater  good  to  come. 

Having  thus  assured  His  disciples  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  better  home  above,  the  Saviour  added,  "  I  go 
to  prepare  a  place  for  you,"  and  in  these  words  the 
comfort  which  His  previous  words  had  suggested  is 
more  expressly  given.  Let  us  see  if  we  can  grasp 
the  full  purport  of  the  declaration. 

It  assured  the  disciples,  for  one  thing,  that  their 
departing  Lord  would  not  forget  them.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  would  be  as  much  in  His  thoughts  as  they 
had  been  during  the  three  years  of  His  earthly  com- 
panionship with  them.  There  would  be  no  severance 
of  those  precious  relations  of  love  and  protection 
which  they  had  learned  to  value  so  highly.  He 
would  be  still  the  same,  and  the  friendship  of  the  past 
would  be  continued  in  the  invisible  realm  beyond. 
How  often  to  stricken  hearts  has  this  thought  brought 
comfort !  It  is  not  possible  that  the  human  soul 
should  blot  out  the  past,  or  that  memory  should  cease 
to  act  even  amid  the  transcendent  glories  of  the  skies. 
We  may  be  sure  that  love  will  not  be  vanquished  by 
death;  that  it  will  only  be  purified,  and  will  harmonize 
more  perfectly  with  the  divine  will.     We  may  be  sure 


350  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

that  saints  in  glory  arc  waiting  with  eager  hope  for 
the  coming  of  their  friends.  Christ  is  so  waiting;  and 
in  His  heavenly  mansion  His  love  is  as  tender,  His 
interest  is  as  keen,  His  sympathy  is  as  quick,  as  His 
disciples  found  it  to  be  on  earth.  He  is  "  Jesus  Christ, 
the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  forever." 

But  His  language  not  only  assured  the  disciples  of 
His  continued  interest  in  them,  but,  going  further, 
assured  them  that  His  chief  object  in  the  other  world 
would  be  to  work  for  them.  Here  His  words  soar 
quite  beyond  anything  that  we  can  apply  to  ordinary 
friends.  They  remind  us  of  the  constant  activity  of 
Christ  in  behalf  of  His  Church.  Do  not  imagine  that 
His  work  was  finished  at  Calvary,  and  that  He  has 
since  been  merely  waiting  to  enjoy  the  future  triumph. 
Only  the  sacrifice  was  there  finished.  When  He 
ascended  it  was  to  enter  on  a  far  more  extended  work 
in  behalf  of  His  people.  His  earthly  ministry  was 
merely  the  time  in  which  He  began  to  do  and  to 
teach.  Now  He  is,  as  Paul  says,  "  Head  over  all 
things  to  the  Church."  He  is  ruling  and  defending 
us,  restraining  and  conquering  both  His  and  our 
enemies. 

You  remember  how  He  is  pictured  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse, seated  on  a  white  horse,  with  many  crowns  upon 
His  head,  a  two-edged  sword  issuing  from  His  mouth, 
going  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer.  This  is  a  sym- 
bolical picture  of  one  phase  of  His  activity.     He  has 


MANY  MANSIONS  35  I 

not  left  us  to  work  out  our  salvation  alone.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  because  He  is  working  for  us  that  we 
succeed  at  all.  A  parent's  toil  supplies  the  wants  and 
provides  for  the  education  of  his  child,  though  the 
little  one  is  often  quite  unconscious  of  the  fact,  and  is 
busy  with  the  performance  of  its  daily  tasks.  So 
Christ's  activity,  though  by  us  unfelt,  is  the  guarantee 
of  our  life  and  progress.  "  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live 
also."  When  He  left  His  Church,  it  was  only  that 
in  another  sphere  He  might  enable  the  Church  to 
reach  her  glorious   destiny. 

Still  more  specifically,  His  words  indicated  not  only 
His  continued  interest  in  and  work  for  His  disciples, 
but  the  particular  object  of  His  work.  "  I  go,"  He 
said,  "to  prepare  a  place  for  you."  It  is  to  the  object 
thus  specified  that  our  attention  should  be  directed. 
Our  Lord,  you  remember,  had  been  speaking  of 
places  of  abode.  He  had  described  the  universe  as 
the  Father's  house.  He  had  declared  that  there  are 
many  mansions,  literally  many  places  of  abode,  of 
which  this  world  is  but  one.  Now  He  was  going 
to  prepare  a  place  for  them.  All  these  phrases  indi- 
cate that  the  home  of  the  blessed  is  to  be  a  material 
locality.  Christ  did  not  go  to  prepare  a  state  for  us 
or  a  mode  of  being.  That  is  prepared  in  us,  not  for 
us.     We  cannot  explain  away  His  phraseology. 

Nor  should  we  desire  to  do  so.  We  need  a  place 
to  live  in,  if  life  is  to  be  worth  anything.     You   know 


352  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

how  much  our  happiness  and  our  mental  growth  in 
this  world  depend  on  our  surroundings.  When  our 
religion  and  our  circumstances  are  in  conflict,  this 
may  indeed  be  a  means  of  discipline;  but  this  painful 
experience  can  never  be  regarded  as  meant  to  con- 
tinue always.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  God 
has  always  provided  a  place  for  the  development  of 
human  character.  He  prepared  this  earth  to  be  our 
first  abode,  the  place  of  our  probation.  Then  He 
selected  portions  of  the  earth  to  be  the  places  in 
which  the  life  of  humanity  should  unfold  itself  under 
His  guidance.  Eden  for  Adam,  Canaan  for  Abraham 
and  Israel.  We  need  not  have  the  least  doubt,  there- 
fore, that  the  same  rule  will  hold  good  after  death. 
The  outward  and  the  inward  are  to  correspond,  and 
if  in  this  life  the  soul  is  being  prepared  for  its  future 
home,  a  future  home  is  as  really  always  being  pre- 
pared for  the  soul. 

Furthermore,  Christ's  language  would  seem  to 
imply  that  until  He  left  the  world  the  home  of  the 
saints  had  not  been  prepared.  Did  it  ever  occur  to 
you  that  the  place  whither  the  souls  of  Christ's  people 
now  depart  could  not  have  existed,  at  least  in  its  pres- 
ent form,  until  after  His  ascension?  If  you  ask,  Where 
then  did  the  saints  of  old  time  go, — Abraham,  Moses, 
and  the  prophets, — we  reply  that  no  doubt  they  went 
to  a  happy  and  holy  place ;  but  that  there  must  have 
been   a  great  and  glad  change  for  them  when  Jesus 


MANY  MANSIONS  353 

returned  from  His  work  of  sacrifice,  Victor  and  King. 
For  only  then  did  He  make  the  home  of  glory  ready 
as  now  it  is.  The  Kingdom  had  indeed  been  prepared 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world;  but  the  place  had  not. 
Not  that  He  created  a  new  world.  He  prepared  the 
place,  He  made  it  ready.  In  fact,  I  suppose,  He  then 
only  began  to  make  it  ready,  and  that  it  is  still  being 
gloriously  prepared.  We  rightly  sing,  "  He  is  fitting 
up  my  mansion."  The  work  of  preparation  continues 
as  the  generations  come  and  go,  and  will  be  finished 
only  when  the  work  of  man's  salvation  shall  have 
been  brought  to  its  conclusion  at  the  end  of  the  world. 

How,  then,  are  we  to  understand  this  work  of 
preparation  which  Christ  is  carrying  on  for  His  people 
in  the  place  above  ?  To  what  did  He  refer  when  He 
used  this  language  to  those  wondering  disciples  ? 

For  one  thing,  He  went  to  prepare  a  place  for  us 
by  going  and  dwelling  there  Himself.  Jesus  Christ 
is  somewhere  in  the  body ;  and  wherever  He  is,  that 
is  the  place  whither  His  people  are  to  go,  that  is  the 
home  of  the  redeemed.  Simply  by  dwelling  there 
Himself  has  He  done  most  to  prepare  it  for  us.  When 
God  said,  "  Let  there  be  light,"  the  work  of  the  prepa- 
ration of  earth  for  man's  abode  was,  to  be  sure,  begun  ; 
but  when  He  set  the  sun  in  the  heavens  a  higher  stage 
of  preparation  began  ;  the  sun  is  the  great  vitalizer  of 
the  world,  and  of  itself  has  made  life  here  possible. 
So  when  Christ  ascended  to  the  skies,  His  presence 

23 


354  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

prepared  a  place  for  us.  Near  Him  naught  but 
beauty  and  holiness  can  be ;  and  if  the  physical  sun 
has  made  the  beauty  and  fruitfulness  of  this  fair  world, 
what  must  be  the  glory  of  that  place  where  there  is 
no  need  of  the  sun  to  shine  in  it,  for  the  glory  of  God 
doth  lighten  it  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof! 
You  have  known  houses,  perhaps,  that  have  been 
homes  because  of  the  presence  in  them  of  one  beau- 
tiful, lovely  character  which  has  shed  a  moral  beauty 
and  attractiveness  over  the  entire  place, — its  glory  in 
life,  its  brightest  memory  in  death.  Similarly  it  is 
from  Christ  that  the  influence  goes  out  which  prepares 
a  place  for  us. 

Then,  further,  He  went  to  prepare  a  place  for  us  by 
going  there  as  our  representative.  He  is  the  Captain 
of  our  salvation,  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept. 
He  went  as  our  victorious  Redeemer,  our  accepted 
Sacrifice,  our  crowned  King.  We  should  have  no 
right  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  Almighty  if  Christ 
were  not  there  as  our  Head.  He  prepares  room  for 
us  among  the  angels,  room  near  the  throne  of  God. 
What  are  we, — sinful  and  frail, — that  we  should  ex- 
pect to  take  our  places  among  the  unfallen  hosts  ? 
We  should  not  dare  to  hope  for  it  if  we  did  not  know 
that  by  His  presented  sacrifice  and  by  His  glorious 
victory  He  has  prepared  a  place  for  us. 

Still  further,  we  may  no  doubt  properly  suppose 
that    He   went    to    prepare   a    place   which    shall   be 


MANY  MANSIONS  355 

adapted  in  the  highest  degree  to  our  needs.  Of 
course,  we  do  not  know  in  what  that  adaptation  shall 
consist.  We  do  not  often  know  beforehand  what  cir- 
cumstances, even  in  this  world,  will  be  best  adapted 
to  us.  We  have  to  trust  God  to  lead  us  to  the  places 
which  are  best  for  us  ;  and,  wherever  He  puts  us,  there 
we  must  do  the  work  demanded,  believing  that  the 
place  is  best.  So  we  cannot  say  beforehand  what  the 
character  of  the  place  shall  be  where  the  perfect  life  of 
the  future  is  to  be  passed.  Yet  we  are  sure  that  it 
will  be  adapted  to  our  needs.  God  has  adapted  this 
world  so  wondrously  to  us  that  we  cannot  doubt 
that  the  future  will  be  adjusted  also.  It  will  be  a 
place  of  work,  and  at  the  same  time  of  rest.  It  will  be 
a  place  of  growth,  and  at  the  same  time  of  moral 
perfection.  It  will  be  a  place  of  social  relationships, 
and  yet  also  of  the  highest  individuality.  So  we 
might  speculate.  But  speculation  is  useless.  It  is 
enough  to  know  that  a  place  shall  be  prepared  for  us, 
and,  therefore,  perfectly  adjusted  to  every  need. 

Finally,  I  feel  confident  that,  as  already  intimated, 
we  may  extend  the  reach  of  these  words  on  unto 
the  end  of  the  present  dispensation,  and  include  in 
them  all  that  Christ  is  doing  as  King  of  the  universe, 
as  Heir  of  the  future,  to  subdue  all  things  unto  Him- 
self and  so  unto  His  people.  There  are  clear  intima- 
tions in  Scripture  of  physical  changes  by  which  nature 
herself  will  be  tuned  into  sympathy  with  the  song  of 


356  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

the  glorified,  and  made  to  quiver,  as  she  does  not 
now,  with  the  harmonies  of  redemption.  We  read : 
"  The  whole  creation  groaneth,  and  travaileth  in  pain 
together  until  now.  And  not  only  they,  but  ourselves 
also,  which  have  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we 
ourselves  groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adop- 
tion, to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our  body."  We  read : 
"  We,  according  to  His  promise,  look  for  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness." We  read :  "  We  know  that  if  our  earthly 
house  of  this  tabernacle  be  dissolved,  we  have  a  build- 
ing of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in 
the  heavens."  We  are  distinctly  told  that  the  dead 
are  to  be  raised  again  and  clothed  with  celestial 
bodies.  Christ,  therefore,  is  bringing  about  a  changed 
universe,  even  as  He  is  securing  a  changed  race; 
and  at  the  end  it  will  appear  that  if  we  are  prepared 
for  a  new  world  we  shall  find  a  new  world  prepared 
for  us.  Ah,  what  a  sweep  and  what  a  sweetness  there 
was  in  this  assurance  which  He  gave  His  disciples, 
"  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you  !  "  We  may  take  the 
words  to  ourselves.  They  were  not  meant  for  apostles 
alone,  but  for  all  disciples ;  and  while  we  gaze,  dimly 
and  tearfully,  into  the  shadow  of  the  grave,  how  wel- 
come the  strong  accents  of  the  great  Sufferer :  "  I  go 
to  prepare  a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare 
a  place  for  you,  I  will  come  again,  and  receive  you 
unto  Myself;  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also." 


MANY  MANSIONS  357 

So  now,  dear  friends,  let  these  words  of  Christ  dwell 
richly  in  your  hearts,  comforting  and  inspiring  you. 
Look  beyond  the  narrow  horizon  of  this  world  and 
believe  that  all  the  vast  domain  is  still  your  Father's 
house,  and  that  the  soul  that  is  reconciled  to  God  can- 
not lose  its  way,  can  never  perish,  will  always  have  its 
home.  Believe  in  God,  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  by 
your  faith  look  death  and  separation  in  the  face.  It  is 
but  transition  to  another  mansion  in  the  same  Father's 
house.  You  will  find  it  so.  Others  have  found  it  so. 
Christ  declared  it  was  so.  Let  us  journey  on,  doing 
with  our  might  what  we  find  to  do,  thanking  God  for 
the  beauty  of  this  world,  and  for  the  salvation  which 
He  has  sent  us.  Let  us  make  that  salvation  ours, — 
and  whenever  our  dear  ones  are  called  away,  and, 
above  all,  when  we  ourselves  receive  the  final  call,  let 
us  think  of  these  words  of  the  Master,  and  be  com- 
forted and  be  strong.  "  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ? 
O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  .  .  .  Thanks  be  to 
God,  which  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord 
Jesus   Christ." 


XX 

THE   JUDGMENT 

"  And  the  heavens  shall  declare  His  righteousness:  for  God  is  judge 
Himself." — Psalm  1.  6. 

The  conviction  that  we  are  to  be  judged  for  the 
lives  we  spend  on  earth  is  so  deeply  impressed  upon 
the  human  mind  that  it  can  hardly  be  a  delusion.  It 
is  found,  under  various  forms,  in  all  religions.  Now 
it  is  conceived  as  a  formal  sentence  pronounced  from 
a  divine  tribunal;  now,  as  the  result  of  laws  which, 
by  a  natural  process,  distribute  after  death  reward  or 
punishment.  But  no  religion  is  without  the  idea ; 
and,  indeed,  we  can  hardly  conceive  of  a  religion, — if 
it  be  more  than  the  feeblest  sentiment, — existing  with- 
out teaching  that  human  lives  are  to  be  fairly  and  ex- 
actly judged. 

Probably  this  conviction  is  to  be  attributed  to  a 
variety  of  causes.  It  springs  partly  from  the  sense 
of  responsibility  which  lies  as  a  primary  truth  in  the 
conscience  of  man.  It  springs  partly  also  from  the 
difference  felt  to  exist  between  right  and  wrong; 
which,  likewise,  the  human  conscience  proclaims,  and 
which  implies  that  a  good  life  deserves  reward,  while  a 
bad  life  deserves  punishment.     Another  cause  of  this 

359 


360  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

belief  may  be  found  in  the  observation  that  in  this 
world  justice  is  not  perfectly  meted  out,  so  that  the 
awards  which  conscience  asserts  ought  to  be  given 
would  not  be  given  unless  a  further  judgment  follow 
after  death.  There  is  also  the  feeling  that  if  there  be  a 
God,  He  must  be  a  Governor  of  the  world.  He  would 
otherwise  scarcely  fulfil  His  name  or  office.  He 
would  be  an  idea  without  life  if  He  did  not  now  watch, 
and  hereafter  judge,  the  lives  of  His  creatures.  To 
this  may  be  added  the  fact  that  even  on  earth  there 
is  an  evident  tendency  of  virtue  to  bless  and  of  vice 
to  curse;  and  while,  on  the  one  hand,  the  imperfect 
operation  of  this  tendency  calls  for  an  adjustment  of 
men's  deserts  after  death,  so,  on  the  other,  the  ten- 
dency itself  is  an  earnest  and  a  prediction  of  such  an 
adjustment  to  come. 

By  the  union  of  these  instincts  and  observations 
and  evident  facts,  the  conviction  of  a  judgment  to 
come  has  fastened  itself  immovably  in  the  human 
mind.  Only  a  skepticism  which  would  destroy  all 
religion  can  set  at  naught  so  universal  a  belief;  and 
even  those  men  who  hold  as  little  as  possible  of  re- 
ligion, and  who  entirely  reject  a  revelation,  seldom 
venture  formally  to  deny  a  future  judgment. 

This  belief,  moreover,  is  as  exalting  and  inspiring  as 
it  is  solemnizing.  Instead  of  nature  being  like  a  hard, 
thick  wall  in  which  we  are  enclosed,  it  is  made  to 
appear  like  a  globe  of  transparent  glass  through  which 


THE  JUDGMENT  36 1 

the  infinite  Father  looks  in  upon  our  lives.  Instead  of 
supposing  that  among  the  multitude  of  beings  in  which 
we  occupy  so  small  a  place  we  shall  be  unobserved, 
we  are  assured  that  not  one  of  us  escapes  the  divine 
notice.     This  gives  dignity  to  life. 

"  A  crowd  of  witnesses  around 
Hold  us  in  full  survey." 

Above  all,  the  sleepless  eye  of  the  great  God  be- 
holds us.  Life  is  no  obscure,  worthless  thing.  It 
is  being  observed,  estimated,  and  judged,  and  at  the 
end  its  worth  will  be  declared.  While  such  a  truth 
may  fill  us  with  shame  in  our  hours  of  sin  and  weak- 
ness, it  is  no  less  the  ally  and  support  of  all  the  nobler 
efforts  that  we  make. 

Then  the  Bible  confirms  this  belief  in  a  divine 
judgment,  and  clarifies  our  conception  of  it.  To 
it  God  is  an  ever-present  reality.  The  darkness 
and  the  light  are  both  alike  to  Him;  and  there  is 
not  a  word  on  our  lips  but  He  knows  it  altogether. 
He,  therefore,  is  "the  Judge  of  all  the  earth."  In 
the  Old  Testament  we  read  of  many  historical  judg- 
ments which  in  this  world  He  has  pronounced  against 
nations  and  individuals;  and  in  the  New  Testament  we 
are  told  of  the  period  when  these  shall  culminate  in  a 
general  judgment  of  all  flesh.  Men  shall  give  account 
to  Him  for  the  deeds  done  in  the  body.  Their  lives 
shall  be  estimated  according  to  the  light  they  have 


362  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

had.  Each  man  shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God, 
and  the  result  shall  be  to  exhibit,  in  the  sight  of  all 
the  universe,  the  righteousness,  and  wisdom,  and 
goodness, — in  short,  the  glory, — of  the  Lord. 

This  is  the  idea  conveyed  by  the  opening  verses  of 
the  Psalm  from  which  the  text  is  taken.  They  mag- 
nificently describe  the  coming  of  God  to  judgment,  and 
the  solemnity  of  the  scene  is  reflected  in  the  majesty 
of  the  verse.  "  The  mighty  God  .  .  .  hath  spoken, 
and  called  the  earth  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  unto 
the  going  down  thereof."  So  the  Psalm  opens.  He  is 
the  Lord  worshiped  by  the  Church,  for  it  is  out  of 
Zion  that  God  has  shined.  He  is  coming  to  utter  His 
decisions.  The  fire  of  judgment  plays  about  His 
throne.  He  will  summon  heaven  and  earth  to  hear. 
He  will  vindicate  the  faith  of  those  who  have  believed 
His  word.  He  will  fulfil  His  covenant  with  them. 
He  will  reprove  and  condemn  the  rebellious  and  "  the 
heavens  shall  declare  His  righteousness,"  the  universe 
shall  approve  His  decisions,  for  "  God  is  judge  Himself." 
No  other,  and  none  less,  shall  pass  the  sentence.  It 
is  His  prerogative, — as  He  alone  has  the  ability, — to 
judge  the  earth.  The  infinite  Being  who  called  the 
world  into  existence,  and  who  is  infinite,  eternal,  and 
unchangeable  in  His  being  and  perfections,  He  shall 
estimate  the  worth,  and  assign  the  awards,  to  every 
human  life. 

We  have  here,  then,  presented  the  character  of  God 


THE  JUDGMENT  363 

as  certifying  to  the  rightfulness  and  the  righteousness 
of  the  judgment  to  be  passed  on  our  lives.  And  I 
would  remark,  at  the  outset,  that  since  "  God  is  judge 
Himself,"  such  judgment  is  a  rightful  thing.  It  ought 
to  be.  God  has  a  right  to  judge  us.  Did  another 
assume  to  do  so,  we  might  reasonably  protest.  But 
God  is  judge  Himself,  and  before  His  tribunal  we  are 
bound  to  bow. 

It  is  not  hard,  indeed,  to  imagine  men  protesting 
against  the  whole  situation.  By  what  right  are  we 
to  be  thus  interrogated  ?  We  repel  the  assumption 
which  other  men  sometimes  make  of  a  right  to  judge 
our  private  affairs ;  and  if  we  do  not  injure  our  fellows, 
and  do  not  violate  public  law,  why  should  our 
thoughts  and  feelings,  our  private  use  of  our  own 
possessions,  be  investigated  ?  The  question  is  not  an 
altogether  unreasonable  one.  These  are,  indeed,  like 
the  poor  foolish  words  of  a  school-boy  who  rebels 
against  the  authority  which  he  cannot  escape.  When 
in  sober  moments  men  reflect  upon  the  greatness  of 
God,  their  wish  for  independence  of  Him  seems  vain 
indeed.  Yet,  if  God  merely  overcame  us  by  His 
superior  power,  we  might  protest  though  we  were 
forced  to  yield.  The  question  is  one  of  right,  not  of 
power.  By  what  right  shall  we  be  made  to  stand 
before  His  bar  ?  We  are  told  that  our  own  consciences 
will  themselves  approve  His  judgment,  and  yet  men 
sometimes  persuade  themselves   that  conscience  says 


364  FAITH  AND  LIFE 

they  ought  to  be  independent.  How,  then,  may  God 
demand  that  all  the  dead, — small  and  great,  learned 
and  ignorant,  Christian  and  pagan,  man  and  child,  of 
all  ages  and  climes, — shall  give  account  of  themselves 
to  Him?  By  what  right  will  He  demand  this  of  you 
and  me  ? 

We  reply,  that  He  has  the  right  to  judge,  simply 
because  He  is  our  Creator.  Men  often  talk  as  if 
they  had  made  themselves  and  were  the  authors  of 
their  own  lives.  One  would  think,  from  their  pro- 
tests against  God's  government,  that  they  had  come 
under  it  by  a  sort  of  "  social  compact ;"  as  if  they  were 
independent  beings  who  had  generously  consented  to 
be  subject  to  the  divine  authority.  God  seems  to  be 
to  them  little  more  than  an  elected  monarch,  and  they 
would  limit  His  rights  and  prerogatives  until  He  had 
left  no  more  authority  than  an  English  sovereign. 
But  what  are  the  facts  ?  It  is  He  that  hath  made 
us,  and  not  we  ourselves.  He  is  the  absolute  and 
free  Creator  of  the  world  and  all  that  is  therein.  But 
for  His  will  we  would  not  have  been  at  all.  He  called 
nature  into  being;  He  made  and  gave  us  our  minds. 
As  truly  as  the  potter  makes  the  earthen  jar,  has 
God  made  us.  Yea,  He  has  made  not  only  the  form, 
but  the  material  itself.  We  need  not  discuss  the 
method  of  creation.  We  may  admit  all  you  choose  of 
second  causes  and  slow  developments.  Still,  the 
power  before  and  behind  all  is  God's  will.     He  created 


THE  JUDGMENT  365 

matter;  He  created  mind;  and  over  the  evolution  of 
matter,  and  over  the  development  of  mind,  He  has 
presided.  He  was  under  no  compulsion  to  create, 
though,  doubtless,  He  found  pleasure  in  so  doing. 
He  is,  in  the  most  absolute  sense,  the  author  of 
all  beings.  Creatorship,  and  especially  such  an  abso- 
lute creatorship  as  this,  carries  with  it  ownership, 
— the  Creator's  right  of  property  in  the  creature  of 
His  hand. 

You  can  partially  illustrate  this  by  the  similar 
right  of  property  as  it  exists  among  men.  A  man 
may,  in  a  limited  sense,  make  his  own  fortune,  and 
when  made,  it  is  his.  He  can  use  it  as  he  sees 
fit.  He  can  hoard,  or  he  can  waste.  Or,  to  take 
an  illustration  more  in  point,  a  man  may  make, 
in  a  certain  sense,  a  business  for  himself.  By  his 
industry,  by  his  ability,  he  may  build  it  up.  It 
is  his,  and  he  is  the  absolute  director  of  its  affairs. 
Has  he  not  then  the  right  to  examine  and  inquire  into 
the  work  done  by  his  employees  ?  Are  they  not 
working  for  him  ?  Does  not  their  time  and  strength, 
so  far  as  they  are  employed,  belong  to  him  ?  Shall 
they  protest  against  his  inquiry  into  and  watchful- 
ness over  his  own  business  ?  Does  not  the  same 
principle  apply  far  more  cogently  to  God  ?  Because 
He  has  made  us,  we  are  His.  The  earth  is  the 
Lord's,  and  the  fullness  thereof,  all  that  it  produces, 
all  that  has  in  the  flight  of  years  come  out  of  it, — and 


366  FAITH  AND    LIFE 

why  ?  Because  He  has  founded  it  upon  the  seas  and 
established  it  upon  the  flood.  As  the  employer  ques- 
tions his  servant,  as  the  father  questions  his  child,  as  an 
owner  has  a  right  to  inquire  about  and  to  rule  in  the 
management  of  his  own  possessions,  so  may  we  say 
that  God, — the  free,  the  real  author  and  owner  of 
human  life, — has  a  right  to  watch,  investigate,  judge, 
and  deal  with  the  creatures  He  has  made. 

You  will  say,  perhaps,  True,  if  we  were  mere  inani- 
mate things  :  but  we  are  moral  beings  ;  and  while  God 
has,  indeed,  created  us,  we  have,  when  once  created, 
our  rights  and  liberties  no  less  truly  than  He  has  His 
rights  and  powers.  You  will  say,  perhaps,  that  while 
a  father  has  the  right  to  question  and  direct  his  child, 
this  is  only  so  long  as  the  latter  is  a  child;  when  he 
becomes  of  age  he  asserts  his  own  independence. 
Why  does  not  the  same  independence  belong  to  man 
in  his  relation  to  his  Father  in  the  heavens  ? 

But  you  must  not  press  one  side  of  the  divine  char- 
acter so  far  as  to  obscure  the  rest.  God  is  our  Father, 
but  He  is  also  our  Creator,  and  our  King,  and  our 
Master.  His  paternity  is  not  so  much  after  our 
modern  idea  as  like  that  of  the  old  Roman  theory. 
The  Roman  father  owned  his  child  as  though  it 
were  a  chattel  till  the  day  of  his  own  death.  He  had 
even  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  it.  He  was 
absolute  master  and  judge  in  his  whole  household. 
This  is  more  like  God's  position.     For  while  He  has 


THE  JUDGMENT  367 

all  love  and  tenderness,  which  the  Roman  often  lacked, 
He  has  all  the  authority  which  the  Roman  claimed. 
I  admit,  indeed,  that  our  moral  natures  may  give  us 
some  rights  and  liberties  even  as  regards  God.  We 
may  have  the  right  to  fair  trial.  We  may  have  the 
right  to  just  treatment.  We  may  have  the  liberty,  if 
we  choose,  of  rebellion  :  but  the  right  of  rebellion  we 
have  not.  God,  I  say,  has  made  us ;  He  owns  us ; 
and,  therefore,  He  is  our  lawful  Ruler  and  lawful 
Judge.  Before  Him  we  are  bound  to  bow.  Con- 
science and  reason,  as  well  as  religion,  uphold  His 
august  tribunal.  As  creatures,  we  must  give  our 
account  to  Him.  He  has  the  right  to  make  inqui- 
sition as  to  what  we  are,  to  examine  how  we  have 
lived,  to  deal  out  to  us  what  we  know  that  we  deserve. 
We  maintain,  therefore,  the  rightfulness  of  God's 
judgment  because  God  is  the  Creator  and  Lord  of 
the  world.  "  God  is  judge  Himself."  We  would 
repudiate  many  a  judgment  of  man.  If  God  were 
a  mere  unconscious  force,  it,  too,  would  have  no 
such  right,  even  as  it  could  not  exercise  it.  But 
by  all  our  conviction  of  a  personal,  free  author  of 
the  world,  may  we  be  sure  that  the  judgment  which 
conscience  leads  us  to  expect,  and  which  revela- 
tion so  clearly  teaches,  is  right  and  proper :  and 
against  such  right,  united  with  such  power,  how  vain 
must  be  man's  anger  and  rebellion !  What  are  they 
like,    but    the    dashing    of  waves    against   everlasting 


368  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

rock,  which  only  break  themselves,  and  fall  into  the 
sea  again  ? 

But  more  important  to  us  than  the  rightfulness  is  the 
righteousness  of  this  divine  judgment.  It  may  comfort 
us  to  know  that  the  trial  which  we  cannot  escape  is  a 
lawful  one  ;  but  it  will  add  to  our  comfort  to  know 
that  it  will  be  just  and  fair.  And  this  is  certified  by 
our  text  again.  "  The  heavens  shall  declare  his  right- 
eousness :  for  God  is  judge  Himself."  He  committed 
it  to  no  angel,  nor  mere  man  ;  for  they  would  not  be 
qualified  for  the  work.  Only  God  Himself  can  be  a 
righteous  judge  of  human  lives. 

And  this  because  He,  and  He  alone,  is  omniscient. 
Of  course,  we  cannot  comprehend  omniscience,  and, 
therefore,  we  fail  to  realize  God's  exact  knowledge  of 
all  that  exists  or  occurs.  We  can  only  make  ap- 
proaches to  such  a  conception,  and  by  the  aid  of 
analogies  realize,  at  least,  how  incomprehensible  omnis- 
cience is,  and  yet  what  some  of  its  consequences  are. 
We  can  only  use  figures  which  represent,  though  they 
do  not  picture,  this  unknown  quantity. 

Perhaps  we  may  partly  realize  the  meaning  of 
omniscience  by  means  of  its  equal  mystery,  omni- 
presence. God  knows  everything  because  God  is  al- 
ways everywhere.  He  is  as  truly  and  as  fully  present 
at  the  farthest  verge  of  creation  as  at  its  centre  in  the 
heavens.  It  is  not  that  He  can,  with  piercing  eye,  sec 
all  that  happens  at  any  distance,   but  that  there  is  no 


THE  JUDGMENT  369 

such  thing  as  distance  from  Him.  It  is  not  that  He  is 
Lord  of  innumerable  agents,  who  with  lightning  speed 
report  events  before  His  throne,  but  that  the  whole 
universe  lies  before  Him  as  distinctly  as  the  field  of 
vision  under  the  strongest  microscope  does  to  the 
student's  eye.  It  is  not  that,  like  the  mind  in  the 
body,  He  is  in  nervous,  vital  connection  with  the 
whole  vast  frame  of  creation,  but  that  in  eveiy  mem- 
ber thereof  the  divine  mind  is  actually  resident. 
Whatever  lives  and  moves  and  has  being  does  so  in 
Him,  in  His  immediate  presence,  because  of  His  sup- 
porting power;  and  it  costs  my  eye  more  effort  to 
glance  at  yonder  page  than  it  costs  the  infinite  One 
to  observe  at  all  times,  every  movement,  of  matter  or 
of  mind,  that  occurs  in  all  the  universe.  There  are 
forces  of  nature  which  seem  to  us  almost  omni- 
present. It  needs  but  about  eight  minutes  for  the 
light  to  flash  over  the  ninety-three  millions  of  miles 
which  separate  us  from  the  sun.  Yet  light  and  elec- 
tricity are  but  ministers  of  His  that  do  His  pleasure. 
They  speed  across  space;  while  He  is  at  the  same 
moment  in  all  space, — in  sun,  and  stars,  and  world. 

"  The  Lord  our  God  is  Lord  of  all ; 
His  station  who  can  find  ? 
I  hear  him  in  the  waterfall, 

I  hear  him  in  the  wind. 
If  in  the  gloom  of  night  I  shroud, 

His  face  I  cannot  fly  ; 
I  see  him  in  the  evening  cloud 
And  in  the  morning  sky." 
24 


370  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

Thus  may  we  picture  God's  omnipresence,  and  by- 
it,  His  omniscience.  He  knows  you  and  me  thor- 
oughly, has  known  us  from  the  first  dawn  of  our  con- 
sciousness ;  and  not  only  us,  but  as  exactly,  all  these 
multitudes  of  our  fellow  citizens,  yea,  not  them  more 
than  all  our  fellow-men.  He  has  searched  us  and 
known  us.  He  knows  our  down-sitting  and  our  up- 
rising. He  understands  our  thoughts  afar  off.  Such 
knowledge  is  too  wonderful  for  us,  but  not  for  Him. 
If  I  say,  the  darkness  shall  cover  me,  surely  the 
night  shall  be  light  about  me.  The  darkness  and 
the  light  are  both  alike  to  Him.  Thus,  you  see,  the 
foundation  for  a  righteous  judgment  is  laid  in  per- 
fect knowledge  of  all  that  we  have  been  and  have 
done.  There  can  be  no  mistakes.  There  can  be 
no  evidence  omitted.  God's  judgment  must  be  in- 
fallible, because  He  knows  us  altogether. 

Then  you  must  add  to  this  exact  knowledge  of  us 
individually,  the  knowledge  of  the  part  which  each  of 
us  was  designed  to  occupy  in  the  world.  You  may 
know  with  great  precision  the  facts  of  a  man's  life,  and 
yet  you  may  wholly  misjudge  him  because  you  do 
not  measure  him  by  the  right  standard ;  you  do  not 
estimate  him  by  his  circumstances,  or  by  the  place  he 
was  meant  to  fill.  But  let  us  not  suppose  that  because 
God  is  in  every  place,  He  does  not  grasp  in  one  view 
the  whole  creation.  He  made  it  all.  He  knows  what 
it  is  to  produce.     He  knows  the  part  which  each  ele- 


THE  JUD  GMENT  3  7  I 

mcnt  plays  in  the  work  of  the  whole;  and  He  judges 
it  by  that  assigned  role.  I  say  this  knowledge  of  the 
whole  world  is  as  necessary  to  a  just  judgment  as  the 
knowledge  of  each  part.  Otherwise  there  might  be  as 
false  an  estimate  as  if  you  were  to  say  that  a  pound  of 
lead  and  a  pound  of  gold  are  of  the  same  value.  Do 
they  not  both  weigh  a  pound  ?  Truly  :  but  not  their 
weight  but  the  part  which  each  plays  in  human  society 
determines  their  value.  So  it  is  conceivable  that  men 
might  be  alike  in  all  ordinary  respects,  while  their 
places  in  the  world  would  cause  the  judgment  in  one 
case  to  differ  from  that  in  the  other.  Well,  then,  may 
we  rejoice  that  "  God  is  judge  Himself."  No  angel 
could  pronounce  sentence ;  none  but  He  who  is  in- 
finite in  knowledge  could  insure  to  men,  in  view  of  the 
multitudinous  facts  and  realities  of  life,  righteous  judg- 
ment. 

Now,  in  one  view,  the  righteousness  of  God  is  an 
appalling  fact,  and  were  men  to  be  saved  or  lost 
according  to  the  estimate  of  mere  justice  upon  their 
lives,  sad  indeed  would  be  their  lot.  If  you  choose  to 
take  your  stand  at  the  bar  without  the  plea  which 
Christ,  the  great  Advocate,  will  enter  in  your  behalf, 
your  condemnation  is  certain.  But  to  the  believer  in 
Jesus,  the  righteousness  of  God  is  full  of  promise; 
and  when  we  consider  it  in  all  its  meaning,  we  rejoice 
in  appearing  before  Him  rather  than  before  any  other. 
The  Scriptures   do  not  fail  to  bring  out  its  encour- 


372  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

aging  side.  His  judgment  is  to  be,  we  are  told,  ac- 
cording to  the  light  men  have  had.  Men's  circum- 
stances will  determine  their  responsibility.  The  knowl- 
edge of  truth  they  have  possessed,  the  surroundings 
in  which  they  have  been  reared,  the  character  of  the 
temptations  to  which  they  have  been  exposed,  and  the 
causes  which  give  these  their  power, — such  are  some 
of  the  determining  elements,  we  may  suppose,  of  this 
judgment;  and  you  can  easily  imagine  how,  on  such 
principles,  it  will  often  reverse  the  judgments  which 
men  pass  upon  each  other.  Then,  too,  God's  judg- 
ment will  be  as  kind  as  is  consistent  with  righteous- 
ness. Every  earnest  soul  has  the  divine  sympathy, 
and  God  watches  and  appreciates  every  effort  to  do 
right,  even  though  it  may  seem  to  fail.  "  He  knoweth 
our  frame ;  He  remembereth  that  we  are  dust." 

This  is  further  certified  by  the  revealed  fact  that 
Christ, — the  God-man, — is  to  be  our  judge.  He 
unites  all  that  we  have  said  of  omniscience  with  all  that 
we  can  desire  of  sympathy.  He  has  Himself  known 
human  life.  He  has  been  tempted  as  we  are :  and,  there- 
fore, when  Christ  shall  gather  before  His  bar  the  na- 
tions of  earth,  the  consciences  of  men  will  unite  with 
the  heavens  in  declaring  His  righteousness.  Not  only 
will  God  Himself  be  judge,  but  God  in  man  will 
be  judge;  and  what  there  may  be  of  God  in  other 
men  will  approve  and  applaud  His  sentence.  Yes, 
righteousness  and  judgment  are  the  habitations  of  His 


THE  JUDGMENT  373 

throne.  The  sceptre  of  righteousness  is  the  sceptre  in 
His  hand.  Not  only  is  it  right  that  He  should  call  us 
to  account ;  but  most  fair,  most  impartial,  most  com- 
prehensive, will  the  decision  be.  Every  mouth  will  be 
stopped ;  no  complaint  will  be  possible.  No  wrong, 
not  even  the  slightest,  will  be  done.  Not  an  element 
that  may  help  to  solve  the  problem  will  have  been  for- 
gotten. God  is  the  judge  Himself,  and  that  fact  as- 
sures the  perfect  righteousness  of  His  summing  up  of 
every  human  life. 

It  would  seem  clearly  to  follow  from  all  this  that 
the  divine  judgment  is  to  be  final.  So  it  is  com- 
monly and  instinctively  conceived  by  men,  both  in 
and  out  of  Christendom  ;  and,  from  what  we  have  said, 
it  is  evident  why  it  must  be  final.  There  can  be  no 
reason  for  an  appeal  from  God's  decision.  There  is  no 
court  to  which  such  an  appeal  could  be  taken.  God  is 
now  the  judge  Himself,  and,  if  so,  we  are  at  the  end 
of  things.  The  balances  are  being  struck.  The 
period  of  probation  is  over.  The  results  have  been 
attained,  and  thenceforward  the  consequences  unalter- 
ably follow. 

The  question  has  been  raised,  it  is  true,  as  to  the 
limits  of  man's  probation.  It  has  of  late  been  fre- 
quently maintained  that  most  people  have  not  in  this 
world  a  fair  chance.  Multitudes  die  in  ignorance  of  the 
gospel.  In  Christendom  itself  multitudes  live  in  such 
circumstances  that  the  faith    and  morality    of   Chris- 


374  FAITH  AXD   LIFE 

tians  cannot  be  expected  of  them.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  advantages  of  some  and  the  disadvantages 
of  others,  it  is  said,  is  so  marked  that  it  would  be  un- 
reasonable to  suppose  probation  to  be  limited  to  this 
life.  Hence  it  is  argued  that  another  chance — or  per- 
haps it  would  be  best  to  say  a  fair  chance — must  be 
given  in  the  next  world.  Not  a  few,  indeed,  would 
deny  any  limit  to  probation,  and  maintain  that  when- 
ever men  shall  repent  and  turn  to  God,  though  it  be 
in  hell  itself,  He  will,  He  must,  receive  them. 

The  view  of  Scripture  truth  which  we  have  presented 
would,  however,  certainly  refute  these  delusive  hopes. 
It  is  as  clear  as  day  that  if  the  Scriptures  mean  any- 
thing at  all,  they  mean  that  probation  has  a  definite, 
fixed  limit.  "  He  hath  appointed  a  day  in  the  which 
He  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  that 
man  whom  He  hath  ordained."  God  is  very  patient. 
He  has  put  the  day  of  decision  a  long  way  off,  that 
by  His  forbearance  He  may  lead  men  to  repent- 
ance. But  that  appointed  day  will  come.  Then  God 
will  be  judge  Himself,  and  the  majesty  of  that  tri- 
bunal is  such  as  to  preclude  any  after  it.  It  must  be 
the  final  summing  up.  It  is  the  Supreme  Court. 
From  it  there  can  be  no  appeal.  Not  only  are  we 
clearly  taught  this  general  fact,  but  we  are  taught  just 
as  clearly  the  correlated  fact  that  the  probation  of  each 
man  does  end  with  this  life.  It  is  human  life,  here  in 
the  flesh,  whose  worth  is  to    be  passed  upon.     Man 


THE  JUD  GMENT  375 

shall  give  account  to  Him  for  the  deeds  done  in  the 
body.     On  these  will  turn  the  sentence. 

How,  then,  you  say,  about  the  inequalities  between 
men  ?  How  can  all  be  said  to  have  had  here  a  fair 
chance,  when  one  dies  at  fifteen  and  another  at  sev- 
enty; when  one  is  reared  in  ignorance  and  another  in 
the  light  of  a  Christian  home?  Surely,  what  has 
been  said  about  the  righteousness  of  God  and  His 
omniscience  will  remove  such  a  difficulty !  God  will 
take  into  consideration  every  circumstance.  Not  sel- 
dom will  those,  I  conceive,  who  seem  to  us  to  have 
had  the  fewest  advantages,  be  better  off  than  those 
who  have  had  more.  It  would  have  been  better 
for  many  men  to  have  died  in  their  boyhood,  since 
they  were  nearer  to  the  kingdom  at  twenty  than  ever 
after.  "  The  publicans  and  harlots,"  said  Jesus  to  the 
Pharisees,  "  enter  the  kingdom  before  you." 

There  is  in  all  men  some  light.  All  hear  the  voice 
of  conscience.  It  may  be  a  misguided  conscience,  but 
yet  it  is  enough  to  reveal  the  moral  choice  of  the  indi- 
vidual's life.  It  is  not  necessary  that  men  should  know 
the  whole  truth  in  order  to  ascertain  their  love  of  truth. 
It  is  not  necessary  that  men  should  know  perfect 
goodness  in  order  to  ascertain  their  wish  for  or  against 
it.  The  flower  and  fruits  of  character  alike  lie  in  the 
germ ;  and  He  who,  as  we  have  seen,  is  able  perfectly 
to  estimate  the  worth  of  every  life,  will  win  the  appro- 
bation of  the  universe  in  His  estimate  of  the  humblest 


376  FAITH  AND   LIFE 

and  obscurest  not  less  than  of  the  highest  and  best. 
"God  is  judge  Himself,"  and  therefore  judgment  is 
final.  It  could  not  be  improved  upon.  No  more  wis- 
dom, or  knowledge,  or  goodness,  can  be  obtained. 
Man  is  standing  before  His  Maker ;  the  allotted  time 
of  trial  has  been  finished;  infinite  love  and  goodness 
will  unite  with  infinite  holiness  and  truth  to  exhibit 
perfect  righteousness.  "  The  books "  may  now  be 
opened ;  as  many  as  have  sinned  with  law  shall  also 
perish  with  law ;  and  as  many  as  have  sinned  in  the 
law  shall  be  judged  by  the  law.  For  this  is  "  the  day 
in  which  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus 
Christ,"  and  "the  heavens  shall  declare  His  righteous- 
ness, for  He  is  judge  Himself." 

I  know  that,  shrouded  as  we  are  by  the  material 
world,  and  busy  as  we  are  with  present  interests,  it  is 
hard  to  believe  in  this  divine  inspection  of  our  lives ; 
hard  to  credit  that  we  shall  ever  appear  before  our  God. 
But  now  and  then  flashes  of  faith,  voices  of  conscience, 
revelations  in  prayer,  make  us  aware  of  what  we  see 
not.  The  spirit  in  man  proclaims  a  higher  destiny 
than  the  grave.  Christ  speaks  words  that  ought  to 
end  all  doubt.  Be,  therefore,  not  deceived.  Remember 
the  sleepless  eye.  Remember  the  unseen  presence. 
What  may  now  appear  to  you  terrible,  will  give  com- 
fort and  joy,  if  once  you  love  Him.  Remember  that 
we  have  a  great  High  Priest.  If  any  man  sin,  we  have 
an  Advocate.     Give  your  case  to  Him ;  and  when  at 


THE  JUDGMENT  Ijy 

last  you  take  your  place  before  God,  you  will  find 
yourself  accepted  and  saved,  because  Christ  pleads  for 
you  His  blood ;  and  for  every  effort  you  have  made  to 
serve  Him,  you  will  receive  your  reward.  "  God  is 
judge  Himself,"  and  He  has  said  that  he  who  believes 
in  Jesus  shall  not  come  into  condemnation,  but  has 
passed  from  death  unto  life.  By  all  the  peril  which 
yawns  before  us,  by  all  the  hopes  of  immortality  we 
possess,  by  all  the  words  of  Him  who  is  true,  I  be- 
seech you,  in  this  your  day  of  probation,  to  turn  to 
Christ  the  Saviour.  Then  the  day  of  judgment  will 
be  your  day  of  coronation,  and  earth's  probation  will 
end  for  you  in  heaven's  eternal  life. 


■■•'iiiiimmmiimmiiwiiMmmMiim" 


hilttii  i    i 


